#it is WAY faster to speak to a human than fighting with a bot and an automated menu

[n0sewise]

i know millennials get clowned on for saying shit like Adulting and I Did A Thing but no one fucking warns you about all the goddamn emails and phone calls and Forms that you just have to do

but it's Arduous. it's a Task. i have to give myself a little pep talk like, "it's ok, girlie, the taxes can't hurt you. the receptionist at the dr's office will not cancel the appointment because you stumbled on a word. shhh shhh, read your phone script that you've written for this purpose."

[rabotimagines]

"Pet names" pt4 GN BOT Reader + Soundwave (His cassettes), Starscream, Megatron

Summary: Reader has become partial to using human pet names for everyone.

Warnings: Megatron mentions of thinking of hitting Reader but it's light hearted all things considered.

G1 characters: Soundwave (and his cassettes), Starscream, Megatron

Genre/Theme: Platonic/light crush vibes

Notes: Con Bot Reader! Reader is higher ranking in the Decepticons and knows how to fight. Reader is said to be more loyal to the cause then Megatron necessarily. Reader is written as older bot in mind.

Pronouns: You, Your, Yours

Soundwave Isn't expecting too much to go wrong today, since it was only an inventory day on the nemesis. You pass him the datapads he requested from you and he almost immediately drops them all when you speak. "Here ya go, Love. let me know if there's any issues with 'em" Soundwave freezes at the term but also has no feasible clue as to what his next course of action should be in this situation. But at his sudden silence you only meet his visor and a smile curls on your derma. And then your em field brushes warm across his side- But Soundwave doesn't say anything when you then turn on your pede and head to go back to your own tasks. And Soundwave is stuck standing with a stack of datapads in his servos for longer than he'd admit to, till he finally forces himself to place the pile on his desk. Then Ravage comes running back a few joors later asking to dock and he complies- and is promptly hit by the visual of you calling Skywarp "Babe" and he's suddenly now aware you've just seemingly begun to do this.

Soundwave admittedly does enjoy it. It was simple and there was no harm to your actions. A smile there, a name there, em field warm to the touch and filled with something almost... delicate. Soundwave did admittedly crave some form of domesticity, it was quite literally embedded in his coding with his frame type. The Decepticons didn't operate on such things so he's long learned to savor the small moments he'd occasionally share with his cassettes behind closed doors. But the affections you offered would make his frame want to instinctively lean forward for your em field to simply feather across his frame faster. So Soundwave allows himself the small enjoyment since there's no deceit in your field or frame when you do so. It's something that soothes the slight ache of wariness in his joints and fills the gaps in his plating.

Theres also the fact he's gotten a heaping amount of blackmail from recording the other Decepticons various reactions to your actions. Some were obviously violent with you promptly putting unruly soldiers back in their places before calling them sweet names again with a hint of bite when they were flat on their afts. He knows you know how to handle yourself and you were still a high ranking officer so the only one who could technically order you to stop was Megatron himself. But you didn't tend to report the insubordination itself. So Soundwave may as well keep the acting out recorded for when he needs to remind someone that Soundwave has his own ways of keeping the rabble in line. There was also the few recordings of some who didn't fight back and optics would brighten harsh enough their faceplates would either risk coloring or would color cobalt. Which were also quite a good source of blackmail for Soundwave.

-

For the cassettes it's only funny when it's someone else. Whether it's Soundwave or another one of them your attention is on. They're smiling and chuckling over whoever is on the receiving end. Laserbeak and Ravage are the fastest to not care about image since their already prone to physical attention due to both their alt modes being beasts. Getting a helm pat while you coo and call them "Gorgeous" has them both pushing back against you fast for more affection. The twins (and Buzzsaw) are hardafts about it, Scoffing and turning their olfactories up at you. Rumble actually does enjoy it a lot but you wouldn't be able to squeeze that outta him. No chance in pit! They all collectively enjoy watching Soundwave being on the receiving end more though. They can physically feel Soundwaves reactions to your affections and its hysterical every time Soundwave is shocked for half a nanoklick before bashfulness gets snuffed out of the bond link. (It's never fast enough that the cassettes can't feel it first though).

They're little slaggers and will not hesitate to push you to interact with Soundwave for something even if they do have the information just because they wanna see you inflicted on Soundwave. Soundwave catches on fast however and immediately begins doing the opposite to them. Turning you on his cassettes for something even when Soundwave already has the information, and watching them promptly fumble with the attention. You've unknowingly become a game to them all which is who can they get to interact with you and watch their optics brighten in real time. It's funnier if whichever con tries to fight you for it because the cassettes already know they're gonna just watch you knock somebot on their aft.

-

Starscream is ranting about Megatrons latest easily avoidable battle fumble that could have been avoided, if he allowed Starscream to kill Optimus last battle instead of stupidly let the mech get back up again. It was time for a high command meeting and it's you and him waiting on Soundwave and Megatron. Starscream knew you entertained his ideas and Starscream knew sparkdamn well your loyalties lied more with the cause then Megatron. So he wastes no chance to try and persuade you to join his side over Megatrons whenever he can. You just leaned your faceplate against your own servo which was propped up on the meeting table. "Darling, you know perfectly well how he is with Prime. He's possessive, and knows he'll only get to kill him once. Megatron wants to savor the death of Optimus Prime." You stated as if it were so matter of factually and not simply that your bumbling leader did whatever he pleased regardless of if it was detrimental to the Decepticon cause.

He thinks on what you'd said longer and scoffs, his wings flicking at the battle memory. Then his optics widen a touch when he thinks you'd just called him "Darling"? No No you definitely had just started that statement off by calling Starscream darling. Starscreams gaze snaps back to you with questions but your expression betrayed nothing at all, expression and em field completely neutral. Had you- Not realized you'd done that? You met Starscreams gaze and a smirk curled on your derma. "What's wrong, love?" Your em field lightly brushing against his side has Starscreams expression furrowing before he can even attempt to hide his own befuddlement. Then Megatron walked into the room with Soundwave and both your helms snapped to them instead. Starscream doesn't know what the pit you were playing at then but then sees you say something flirtatious with Skywarp of all bots- then Soundwave, and then hes demanding to know if you've had your personality module shorted when they weren't looking. But you just smirked at him in the infuriating way you did and say "What? I just think the Cons could use a little TLC." Starscream cannot hide his sneer when you explain what "TLC" means. You were Decpticon warriors! Not blasted organics in a cheap shoddy excuse for a romantic film. Skywarp actually growled at him when Starscream told him to act like his sparkdamned position, and not hike his wings so high in the air when you interacted with him. Growled at him! Starscream was going to shoot that idiot the next chance he got.

Starscream hates your little excuse of a habit and he's starting to hate interacting with you. Every meeting is an infuriating term, or smile, or all spark forbid you try and fan your em field out against him again- he might just threaten to end you there and then! Starscream was a war frame! Not just any war frame but the second in command in the Decepticons! Your position aside, you still were not above Starscream in rank! The only time he actually lets you is on accident- when his guard drops. Starscream returned from a mission with an earth item they needed for their plans and had to outgun and quickly outrun the Autobots by himself. And what does he get when he returns? Megatrons infuriating unappreciative aft telling him he should've been faster. Starscream is seething off to the side when a servo grasps his arm and Starscream whips his helm around ready to fight, obviously, and its you. "Great job out there, Darling." You say with a smile and your em field fully presses against Starscream and it is warm. Your thumb rubs a slow press against were you're holding his arm and then you simply let go and leave.

Starscream would have shot you if his embarrassment caught up to him before you'd left. But instead he's stuck standing there like a fool alone with his wings hiked high in the air without his own input. His own optics burning. Starscreams engine growled under his own vents and he stomped off to go get ready for the impending battle. He was going to slag you for this foolery one day! (Starscream does not even entertain to fleeting thought to find you to next time he completes a task. The thoughts dead and smelted as soon as it has the audacity to form.)

-

Megatron knows were your loyalties lie but you were competent and a good solider so he has no qualms with them. After all you'd simply stated you'd tell him yourself if you thought you had to kill him for the sake of the Decepticon cause. Megatron laughed knowing you were completely and utterly serious about that. He simply offered the same sentimentality back to you. He'd known you for a very very long time so the clarity of were you both stood on any situation was typically warranted. That said after vorns of knowing you he's still not ready when your giving him your verbal report and you hold out the datapad with the written report still on the screen for him to take. "All that said not too much to regard about, Sweetspark. Thankfully the mission went off without much of a hitch." Megatron stops were he is and at that point he's in the middle of taking the datapad, servo still holding onto the electronic device and held in front of himself. And Megatron stares back at you letting what you'd just said settle in the silence. You don't open your mouth again to explain yourself so Megatron opens his.

"Are you- overcharged you fool? What... buffoonery are you trying to accomplish here?" And Megatron looks at your optics to genuinely check if they are any brighter as a sign of overcharge but their the same brightness they always typically are. He watches a smirk curl on your derma and feels amusement fan in your em field- He knows because Megatron can blatantly feel it brushing against his chassis. It's not strictly unpleasant- but it is foreign enough he has to suppress the instinctive urge to pull back.

"Ah, Sorry Sir," Your em field flexes warmer when the word leaves your mouth, "Learned that praise is apparently shown to encourage morale and good behavior. It's been working with the other cons so far. Even got some of the usual misbehaving rabble to start acting more... proper." You were doing this with the soldiers.

"Has it now?" You only nodded unperturbed still by the situation. You were competent and if the unruly soldiers listened when you had no regard for indulging the brutes in such a thing he couldn't exactly argue against it. However- "Hm, Do not use such terms when we're not alone. It would be ill advised for the others to hear me referred to by such things." Your smirk widens and further amusement curls against Megatrons frame and he as to resist to urge to try and strike you for it. Knowing fully well you'd more than likely dodge and would rightfully try and strike him one back. (Before likely booking it out of his throne room before Megatron could stand properly.) Megatron enjoys it more than he would ever admit, even to you. Your smile, Your unrestrained em field, and he even enjoys the rather confounded little names you'd use whenever you were alone with one another. It didn't make much logical sense considering how ridiculous the entire affair was but Megatron wanted you to continue doing it. And Megatron was never restrained with his own desires.

He does however restrain himself when he suddenly gets the baffling urge to reach a servo out and brush his knuckles against your faceplate one night. Something so ridiculously... chummy was not something Megatron would stoop low enough to perform. So he instead lets his plating lax a touch more than usual when your em field brushes against his own frame. You were simply putting work into the sanctity of the Deception cause. Nothing more, nothing less...

[presidentofthelipglossclub]

Please, tell me more

About Heatwave and Bumblebee siblings dynamic

It sounds stupidly fun

And with lots of shenanigans

Tell me👀

YESSSS OK.

listen this just started out because i had the passing thought that we all joke about heatwave being optimus's kid and it's been a pretty popular joke for a long time to say that about bumblebee as well. it was just a joke headcanon. but then i got to thinking.

heatwave and bumblebee are actually a really interesting duo (even tho they barely interacted in canon) for a lot of reasons, but the main one is that they're functionally narrative foils. in case anyone doesn't know what a foil is, foils are characters who are opposites in ways meant to highlight specific qualities each character possesses. in some cases, the foil for the protagonist is an antagonist, but not always. also, when i say narrative foil what i mean is the development and storyline the characters follow are opposites.

the narrative foils between heatwave and bee are more easily drawn between rescue bots and robots in disguise, because in rid bumblebee becomes team leader, like heatwave. because of that all the stuff i'm saying is about them post war, during rid.

firstly, heatwave starts out as team leader, while bumblebee we see growing into the role. this creates an interesting dynamic because optimus has always known heatwave as a leader, while for a very long time bumblebee was someone under his command. the differences in how optimus treats their decision making could cause some sibling rivalry. bumblebee is jealous of heatwave because optimus trusts him more, and because optimus isn't constantly hovering. heatwave is jealous of bumblebee because optimus actually spends time with him, and because they know each other better.

another interesting thing about them is their backgrounds. heatwave's dream was to be on optimus's team, because he wanted to prove himself. he loves fighting, and wanted nothing more than to help by joining in on the action. to heatwave, bumblebee is living the dream. but bee would much rather live like heatwave, away from cybertron where everybody expects him to just move on. of course they both understand that the other's life isn't perfect, but they're both seeing through rose colored glasses. the grass is greener on the other side, so to speak.

also, bumblebee loves earth, like, a lot. in rid he's constantly talking about how beautiful it is, and how interesting humans are. heatwave is the complete opposite. even after cody convinced him to stay, he was still the least interested in earth. to him, it's just another mission, which makes sense because he'd been to plenty of other planets for the same reasons. earth isn't anything special to him. but for bumblebee, someone who rarely had the chance to explore the life of other planets, earth is unique. the autobots were too busy fighting to take in the sights in the earlier days of war, and by the time they moved to new planets the old ones were usually destroyed anyways. being able to just exist on another planet is something he hasn't done, and especially not in a post war situation.

i think bumblebee would harbor a lot of negative feelings towards heatwave (especially in the beginning) just because he's known optimus for way less time but earned his trust much faster. also because heatwave has a lot of potential? i guess? because of his quadruple changer status and as the last rescue bot leader. and since i headcanon him as a psychic, heatwave is really a golden child, so to speak. bumblebee resents him, but then he feels guilty for resenting heatwave because even if he's jealous that's still his brother.

heatwave is less resentful of bumblebee (although there is still a level of resentment) and more openly admiring of him. to the rescue bots, who have been kept from knowing anything about the war, bumblebee is a hero. i mean to a lot of people he's a hero, but the rescue bots get most of their info about everything that's going on from bumblebee because optimus doesn't want them to know. heatwave wants to fight, but optimus won't let him. he feels weak and unworthy (serious survivor's guilt btw), and so he sees bumblebee as what he needs to become.

a lot of this stuff is kinda angsty which i didn't intend because i genuinely do think they would also get along really well and could become close. but also there would be a LOT of sibling rivalry between them just because of the kinds of people they are.

(also important to note: i personally see bumblebee taking on an older sibling role especially during rid because it fits his character arc of maturing and growing into leadership. this adds another layer of complicated to their already weird relationship because heatwave has always been the one responsible for others while bumblebee is very new to it. but as bee gets more comfortable exercising his own agency and heatwave gets more used to trusting others, they settle into a sibling dynamic that actually works.)

[selenescantina]

To: anyone

From: Aux syndulla and Darth Avox

Aux: greetings friends not to be intrusive Bu-

Avox: (shoves Aux out of the way) You don't speak for me and I want to be intrusive! What are y'all's origins?

Aux: You can't just be so blunt about it!

Avox: And why not? You would take far too long you Twi'gruta..

Aux: Bio metallic ass of a- uhh.. what even are you?

Avox: I am master Lumiya's greatest super weapon, apprentice and successor! Dart Avox! ( Uses a bot of Dathomirain magic to make a pillar of flame erupt behind him for Dramatic Effect)

Aux's internal monologue: what did I do to get stuck with this Bit brained Gobul..

Avox: anyways it's my origin story time!

Avox: ( clears throat) I was a young human child on a hapeain world deprived without the love of my mother working on a harvesting plant with my father. One day my father snapped and took a Jogan fruit and splattered in across a statue of that STUPID STUPID AlL mOtHeR ( Avox's words become laced with venom as he relives that moment absolutely disgusted by the hapes). I watched them use that despicable Sourd ray on him and made him blow his own brains out right before my eyes! As I saw my father's grey matter I felt a power course through me, My head was pounding and before I knew it I awakened my force sensitive and I was on the ground at its mercy as my pain unleashed wild fires, Hurricanes, and lightning storms.. Fortunately for me I drew Lumiya's eye who saw my electrical storm from orbit and came to check it out believing it was a super weapon.. She found me and saw my abilities and spoke softly and told me if I followed her I could drive the Hapain race to Extinction..

Aux: you do know her soft words were probably just lies, right?

Avox: oh, I knew alright.. I just didn't have anywhere else to go..

Avox: so anyways I trained under her for years gaining more and more of her approval and trust to work on and handle her weaponry. But one day I was sent with 4 mercenaries to a Hutt mining operation to claim the legendary Kaiburr Chrystal.. I was backstabbed by those merks and mangled but I did not die oh no.. my brilliant master rebuilt me into a form that was as strong as my Dathomirain magic, I could regenerate my whole body from just a finger, I could move faster than the average Jedi, and I could get my revenge.. For my first assignment in my new form kill those merks in gladiator combat..

Avox: I've been talking for a while so I'll wrap this up fast. Lumiya built me a master lightsaber, I bled the Kaiburr Chrystal and turned it into the Heart of the Destroyer, I then got a hammada of ships, then I allied the Yuuzhan Vong to me by tricking them into believing that I was one of their gods, I declared war on the hapes systems blew up 16 of their planets and then made the parts into my own chimera planet, I drove the Hapes away from their system killing every queen they had and committed mass genocide on their race turning the once might Hapes that were oh so much better than me into lower street rats that have to fight for their meals!

Avox: oh but Avox how did you do it? Simple I used barrier field bombs to trap their hit and run ships in bubbles that if they tried to fly out of would be like hitting a planet at light speed. For their bigger ships I used droid mites that would eat away at their battle ships and reproduce until they would all detonate at once blowing the ships to scrap and any intact battle ships I would capture I'd have my devoted followers kamikaze the ship into Hapain planets at light speed.

Aux Jolting back awake: Oh, I forgot I was here for a moment.. That's terrible.. I knew they hurt you but was this really the only way?

Avox: DON'T SYMPATHIZE WITH THOSE DISGUSTING BIGOTS! Ahem! Apologies for the outburst But you wanna know why I'm called Avox, aux?

Aux: I don't have a choice either way so why?

Avox: It's a Hapain slave term.. It means you're nothing, it means you're disposable, it means you're worth less than dirt! And that was my name to them.. it was always "come here Avox, Fetch me my lunch Avox, This dress is worth more than your life Avox" So you fraggin know what I did? I took that term and morphed it into a symbol of power and made it my strength!

Aux: theatrical much?

Avox: frag you aux.. frag you..

Aux: you renamed it to the Noir system you're an edgy theater kid at heart..

Avox: at least my master isn't known for repeatedly dying..

Aux: your master died by having her life support shut off..

( they glare at each other like a western standoff)

Avox: Touche.. okay I'm done now end message!

Aux: wait I didn't get a tur-

( connection terminated)

Fun fact: Aux's master is Shaak Ti..

Selene: ...Not intending offense, but backgrounds should be character specific questions. Putting all of that into one post would be a lot.

Also, how'd you get my holo number!?

[crying-fantasies]

A Wonderful Life Ahead (1)

Masterlist

Part 1: Karma | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

Blurr's oil house is often filled with laughter, grief, the occasional party before any near experience to the end of the world, and the occasional fight that he tries to keep down or getting rid of the mechs doing such dangerous things when he has human costumers too, along to his human conjux and his sparklings.

He has tried to do it as cybertronian friendly (not mattering whatever badge is on his costumers or if there is none) and organic friendly (for humans, elonians or whoever finds their way to his local) as it can be in all it's glory, he wants to be a good example for his sparklings that look at him with wide optics and eyes full of affection between endless admiration.

Or maybe that admiration ends in, like, right now.

"Sweetspark" Blurr calls from the other side of his sparkling's hab suit door that has been shut since earlier, a drawing of him holding his whole family hanging on the door, everyone is smiling in the drawing.

His sparkling's almost muffled crying sounds still get to his audials, a hard contrast to what is represented in the drawing.

He can still hear her shouting, calling him a "bad bot!" and "you are the worst!" before running to her hab suit, in other circumstances he could've told her that she got faster than the last time she started running.

Not that she cares to have anything to do with him, or anything related to him, right now.

To give everything some kind of sense one would need to know what happened a few hours ago, as how you referred to your own time scale, when the Lost Light arrived to new Cybertron and a certain mini bot arrived to his bar.

"I really wanted to come since a long time ago!" This very one mini bot, one that Blurr can really say in the name of his better time record he doesn't remember, is talking about him, apparently he is a fan of his, nothing new, Blurr has a smile on his face, listening about his golden era while being at the top of the world and seeing his older sparkling also listening to it with a mug of hot chocolate and a smile on her little face as if she didn't know all about it already.

The oil house only had a few customers at the moment, you were serving a very intricate engex shot with those little hands of yours, his youngest was recharging, already a natural in the place.

One thing lead to another and before he could even remember of when he gave his contact address to a fan, everything kind of clicked on his processor.

Yeah, he admitted that it was awful, he wasn't the best bot at the time, but in his defense... well he didn't have much to say when you were looking at him with that look on your little face, you wanted to know if that was true by only looking at his expression, with his stiffness it was obvious, maybe you would make him apologize right in that moment, but you stopped when the sobbing started.

Swerve, as the mini bot was called, and his friends didn't know why the organic baby was crying, (slag, he didn't even know that the number that Blurr gave him ages ago was false) before storming off to Primus knows where.

If Blurr could, he would explain that his poor sparkling had problems in her learning institute, you called it school, problems that included the humans that she wanted to befriend did what Blurr did ages ago, they gave her wrong numbers.

So, yeah, this maybe was what humans referred to karma being a bitch, whoever karma was, it was awful.

His sparkling doesn't want to speak to him, he gets it, he understands, but still hurts the same when you come to his side, he is still waiting by the door, your youngest safely secured in your arms while you walk to him, "she needs time" you tell him while pressing a hand on his side, Blurr knows that you are also quite angry, if not furious, by his past wrongdoings, Primus, he can still remember how you didn't quite like him before, but humans have such a short existence, if he didn't act when he did, you could've just continued with your life and never remember him again.

But he tried, he did it to the point of catching your attention by the silliest things, he never believed that you would prefer his more anxious state over his cool persona, but now he has you, he has a family which you gave him, and Blurr would be damned if he ever wasted a second of it at all.

You know it, and so, that's what makes knock on your daughter's door after sighing, "Ripley" your voice is soft, demanding in a way that he can't compare to a commander of any kind, Blurr can only relate that to human parents and especially in you, in that way you call for your kids and get their attention on you as fast as they can even if they don't want to, it shows, by the little sounds that come from the habsuit, she is hearing, "your dad is here, he wants to talk to you" and as you came you go, giving him courage by making him come near the floor where you stand, near enough to share a short kiss and a fleeting movement of your hand to give a soft touch on his face plate before returning to your shared habsuit while his optics watch your figure before it's gone, the door finally opens and he can see his little sparkling that looks pissed, eyes red by the tears, a mess of hair on her head.

"Ripley-"

"You are a bad bot"

Right, he needs to stop her from saying that, his spark breaks a little more every time those words get out of her little mouth.

"Princess" he tries to carry her, your baby is just so little, even more little than you and Blurr still can't wrap his processor over the fact he swears his baby was even smaller just the previous cycle, not more than the tip of one of his digits, Ripley let's him approach and do what he wants, maybe moved by the familiar nickname, her tiny lips are pressed in a thin line, cheeks with an adorable pink dusting over her soft skin.

"Daddy said people that ignore others are bad people, or bad bots" having his own words chewing back at him are a real pain, specially when his baby looks at the verge of crying again, "you said it".

"I did, and it is true" he uses his digits to gently placate her mop of hair on top of her tiny head with the utmost care, "I'm not proud of how I was when I was younger" he starts, giving as much space he can, he hasn't seen her in hours and is showing, "I lost many mechs that I really was fond of, for many cycles I even tried to go around as if that didn't hurt me" time goes fast for his kind, even faster for him to the point that seeing changes is difficult because details get lost in a blink, and sometimes he just wants that everything stayed the same way always, especially with his little family.

You, his loved conjunx, that even when with the conjux ritual and the energy in his spark your life has extended, who still is growing older, his little princess, as humans refer to their femme sparklings, that was just given to him by nurses worried about the size difference between both and the next thing he knows she is already moving around, his mechling that is even younger than both but is also growing as fast, a visor now evident over his optics.

"Things never stay as they were, Riri" he holds her close, his first born, the very first glimpse of new life that was given to him, "and I'm going to apologize for every bad thing that I did, I promise you", life is way too short to live with regrets is what he wants to say, but his sparkling is so young and naive to understand now.

Blurr whishes she could remain like that a little longer.

"That's good" she holds to his digits and makes an act to be though when she cleans her face of any dried or new tears, looking pleased with his answer even if she doesn't understand past from the fact that he will apologize, such little kid, maybe he should be concerned about how easy it is to please her, "I didn't finish my chocolate".

"I can do more for you" he is already up, the oil house is closed since his baby's outburst, so he can go now and have a good moment with her.

She doesn't sound so pleased, if she had finials those would have dropped, the idea is adorable but it also sadness him.

"What's wrong?"

"You never make it right"

This kid and her blunt sincerity are going to be the end of him.

"Hey, I'm quite proud of my skills doing organic beverages" he moves along, not letting her sincerity affect him, at least not show it so blatantly, because he still has a well maintained pride as the best bartender of New Cybertron.

"Can we wake up Ty first?" She calls for her little brother when he denies waking you up, you are usually the one doing organic drinks, and in the worst case scenario she wants her brother near so she can bump whatever poison her father does on the sparkling's intake, Typhoon can stomach almost everything and even ask for seconds and it's worrying in every level.

"Now you are hurting my feelings, have a little faith in your carrier here".

Ripley's shouting and the fire alarms finally end waking you up when whatever Blurr makes looks almost ready to combust, Typhoon, in his almost perpetual sleepy mode and with a half powered visor, does try to consume whatever that thing is before you both stop him.

.

I really needed to get this off my system after reading IDW Unicron, still a crying mess.

If you ask, yes, this whole world is based in a happy ending world where no one dies, but in other realities they did... This is my way of coping with so many loses and so many encounters.

This AU will be called terraformers, as far as I'm going with the name so far.

If you want to know, Marble Ripley and Ferventi Typhoon were both planned (sorry Sunset)

[skellebonez]

Prompt 10 with syntax and huntsman, please?

... You know, I somehow never actually really considered writing these two as a focus in a fill before now... it's about time I should fix this!

Stop it! You’re only making it worse!

"And what, exactly, do you think you are doing?" Huntsman asked, glowering down at the hand on his arm.

"Helping you, now stop moving," Syntax snapped back at him, pulling the sleeve of his coat up a bit before scoffing and tugging roughly on the sleeve. "Take this off so I can look at it properly."

"Stop it! You’re only making it worse!" Huntsman hissed and winced as the tug pulled on his injury, swatting away at the human turned spider demon’s hand with a scowl. “I was gonna take it off myself anyway, I know how to treat my own wounds!”

Syntax raised an eyebrow, clearly not impressed with the rebuttal. "We'll see about that once your arms are bare. Off, now."

Letting out a soft hiss in his direction the hunter did so carefully, removing the sleeve from his uninjured arm and sliding the other sleeve off as carefully as e could manage with the fabric rubbing against his injury as it was.

They'd been caught off guard. Sent out to gather supplies to rebuild more of the spider bots in secret for an even larger project and had been attacked by the demons that owned the large storage space they'd broken into. Huntsman couldn't blame either himself or Syntax for them being found out, he'd watched the other disable the security system himself after all. They only had the fact that the system came backed up with security guards actually patrolling the ground.

A smart thing, that, having backup security and not having it logged anywhere in your normal system.

Syntax had managed to get by with a couple nasty bruises and a scrape or two, a dent in one of his mechanical spider legs that was already easily mended with the help of their stronger trio-man. Huntsman on the other hand was not as lucky, one of the security guards managing a nasty clawed slice into his arm as they made their escape. There was only so long container of antiseptic and bandages he always carried around (for emergencies, after all you learn to carry something around as a hunter very quickly if you wanted to survive) that he had slapped on at the first chance to relax would last, and Syntax had been shockingly patient as he poured the stinging liquid and covered the wound before they made it back to the lair.

Spider Queen was not pleased when they had arrived back, not angered at them but at the situation they'd all found themselves after... after everything. But she'd softened a bit when she saw their state, sending them both off the treat themselves and rest before the next step in their plan.

And that's how they found themselves where they were. Sitting in what counted as their lair's "infirmary", Syntax with his own coat off set to the side for the moment and covered in small bandages and glowering down at the still seated spider demon in front of him.

Granted, his glower turned into a look he couldn't quite read once his coat has been removed. Frown softened and one eyebrow quirked as he tilted his head to the side.

"What?" Huntsman snapped, resisting the urge to hiss at him again.

"I just realized I've never seen you without your coat before," Syntax replied, smirking a bit. It was less mirthful than expected somehow. "At least you wearing a tank top underneath makes me treating your wound much simpler."

"Who said I was letting you treating my wound?"

"If you want to wrap bandages around that with one hand you can be my guest," Syntax continued on, grabbing the medicine kit that he'd pulled out of a cabinet earlier. "But generally speaking doing so is much easier when done with both hands."

There was no denying that statement. It would be much easier to let Syntax do this than to fight him, and as much as his pride wanted him to snap back and argue and insult him until he left him alone to do this on his own... he was tired.

Huntsman was tired and in pain (loathe as he was to admit it) and after everything that had happened and watching Syntax attempt to talk with the Spider Queen about her new plan only to be shot down at every turn and forced to work longer and harder than either of the other two... he knew Syntax was tired too. He could see the dark circles under his eyes when he didn't wear his visor, how he rubbed them and rested them in his hand when he thought no one was looking. How he'd caught him sleeping in a chair more than once with his hand still on that thing strapped to his wrist as he worked well into the night to help their Queen.

Until the night prior, when he watched him barely manage to stumble in with Spider Queen behind him wearing an odd look on her face, he wasn't entirely sure when the last time he saw Syntax actually return to his sleeping quarters was.

"Fine," Huntsman grumbled, holding out his arm. "Only because I want to sleep."

"You and me both," he barely caught Syntax grumble under his breathe, and he could have sworn he heard the smallest hint of a laugh before the other raised his voice back to normal volume. "Apologies for any discomfort this may cause."

There was nothing said between them for a while after that, Syntax holding his arm firmly and gently (far more gently than Huntsman would have expected) cleaned and disinfected the wound. The hunter didn't even wince at the feeling, too used to it to find it really more than a mild nuisance at this point. It was when Syntax turned to grab the gauze and bandages that Huntsman spoke again.

"Where'd you learn to do this anyway? Aren't you a computer nerd?"

Syntax scoffed, looking at him in mock offense when he knelt down in front of him (he was starting to recognize when Syntax was actually offended and trying to look so to get a rise out of him in their little rivalry). "I work with chemicals and tech and you think I didn't learn at least basic first aid at my original job?"

This actually surprised Huntsman for a moment. He hadn't known the scientist back when he was human for very long, hadn't really known him for very long as a turned demon either, and he was starting to realize he didn't really... know that much about him at all.

"I didn't," he admitted, and he took note in the way the other's grip loosened for half a second before he continued to carefully apply the gauze. "I didn't really think much about your past life at all."

"No one ever asked," Syntax said tensely, clearing his throat as he began carefully wrapping his arm. "Outside of our Queen." He added her on quickly, as if implying she hadn't known about his human life was offensive to her.

"Do you want me to ask?" Huntsman said without thinking, the words out before he could realized he has asked them. He watched as Syntax paused, not looking up from his work but holding the other's wrist in a slightly tighter grip.

"... I don't know," Syntax answered after another beat of silence, continuing on with his work. "Does it matter?"

"I don't know either," Huntsman admitted, looking down and noticing a few things on Syntax for the first time. He'd also never seen the other without his trademark lab coat before, the burn scars on his upper arms and a scrape on his shoulder that was barely hidden by his coat collar now showing under his short sleeved dress shirt. They were old scars, clearly from when he was still human, chemical scars that were more recent dotting his lower arms as well. They may have even been from the experiments with their bots. "You know, I never expected you to actually have muscles."

This time Syntax looked at him in genuine offense, gently yanking at the bandages and making them ache horribly in retaliation... but not too much, Huntsman noted. "Speak for yourself Mr. Macklemore Coat."

"Mackle-what?"

"...Old foreign music reference, nothing more." The scientist sighed out as he finished adhering the bandage, seeming to wilt as his reference was lost on the other and more tired looking than before this conversation started. He stood, gesturing at his work with a half shrug before turning to replace everything back in their original home and grabbing his coat to slide it back on.

The wince that went through Huntsman when he slid his own coat back on and felt a certain something in his coat pocket when Syntax wasn't looking at him hurt more than his wound.

"If that's everything, I-"

"I'm sorry," Huntsman interrupted, shocking the other into turning around with wide eyes. "For not trying to get to know you before all... this."

"I..." Syntax looked around the room. "Uh... it's fine? We can... get to know each other if this all... works."

His words were stilted and awkward, completely understandable given how adversarial their relationship had been until recently. Until they had been starting to be forced to work together.

"We could uh... probably work faster if we rebuilt the bots... together?" Huntsman kept his back turned to the other, not wanting him to see his own awkward expression. "Since I helped in the design process and all and our Queen is... preoccupied. You look like you could use the company."

The two stood still in the infirmary, Huntsman just barely turning to watch Syntax as he thought over his answer. A frown deep set in his face, like he expected this to be a cruel prank on Huntsman's part. But when Huntsman said nothing else he seemed to relax, glancing down at the tear in the other's coat arm.

"... yes. Yes, actually, I think I would appreciate that."

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “Take Me to Your Leader.”

I hope you guys are all having a great week, and I hope you enjoy the read.

Captain Kell sat in his room's boots up on the small desk space as he watched the news report filtering in from over the feed.

“Early this morning the chairwoman of the UN has announced a state of emergency and launched a formal investigation into the attempted assassination of the GA’s Admiral Vir. This all comes in response to the announcement by UN president late last night  that they were unable to identify connections to any internal terrorist organizations after a woman was caught attempting to assassinate the Admiral during one of his speeches two months ago. The failed assassination was thanks to 25 year old marine Angle Ramirez who dove in front of the bullet for his commanding officer, and is now (as his family claims) fully healed and back to work. Since the incident, GA and UNSC leaders alike have encouraged Admiral Vir to stay away from earth as much as possible and remain on his ship until further notice.  At a request from one of our journalists yesterday morning, he agreed to a statement from his ship the Omen.”

There was a flickering on the screen as a face appeared  on the news feed. It was, somewhat from a distance, and the lens seems grainy from radiation interference, but the man seen was tall and blond and had one green eye though he was wearing an eyepatch. Captain kell thought he looked a little more lean than the admiral, but it was hard to tell with all the distortion.

When the man began to speak there was something missing in the voice as well, but it would hardly be noticeable.

There was a knock at his door and he quickly threw his feet down from the desk walking over to throw the door open and step outside into the hall. Angelo was waiting for him there and without saying a word the two of them walked down the long hallway and to the planning room.

Mace was still discussing with some of the other men and women there., and Geea and Beatrice were still loitering at the back.

Captain Kell couldn’t keep the distaste from his thoughts as he looked at the two of them. There was a prime example of toxic love if he had ever seen it. The two were clearly partnered or, at the very least, dating, but he had never seen two people who enjoyed pissing each other off as much as they did. WIth them there was plenty of jealousy and mistrust to go around. And as for Geea’s views on Drev religion, well they were backwards to say the least.

He had seem the same sort of fanaticism in certain shamed drev generals after the war, radical, and suicidal almost in nature.

She had no real idea what the meaning of the new law was.

As soon as he walked in the two women turned to look up at him, their arms crossed over their chests. Beatrice was playing with some big ass knives like that was likely to impress anyone, but really all he saw was some crazy asshole whose parents probably didn’t give her enough attention when she was a kid.

He sad down at the table.

Geea leaned forward expectantly.

“Setting course/”

He turned his head to look up at her, “Yes, setting course to whatever cesspit of corruption spawned you.”

Geea pulled back, “Excuse me, but we hired you for a job, not for insults.” One of her hands reached for the weapons on her belt, but Noble stepped forward spear at the ready. He was a good foot taller than she was, and he knew for a fact he was probably a better warrior. He had a natural talent for it.

He leaned back in his seat, “You hired me for a job and now expect me to fling my dead corpse at the Omen like my ship is going to be able to handle that.” he shook his head, “You hired me which means we are going to do this MY way, which means we are going to do it quiet, and we are going to do it proper. That means NONE of this comes back on me. If we show up at the omen right now and bust down their doors, we are going to get atomized by two platoons of marines and an entire clan of Drev. LEts not also forget that the Admiral Isn’t exactly going to be easy to just kill.” Captain Kell waved a hand wildly, “He has a fucking Drev SAINT on his crew, that is hardly something I think I want to deal with.” he shook his head, “No no, this is going to take me a lot longer to plan, and it is going to require a lot more material that I don’t already have.”

Geea bristled in impatience and indignation.

“I am not going to throw my life away for this mission, and if you want to push that, than I will throw you out of the airlock faster than you can say, “please captain, please I was just being a whiny little bitch.” The room was silent around Geaa’s seething, but he paid her no mind. She didn’t exactly scare him.

She was a minor player in the black market at best, and the way she moved told him she was no great shakes as a warrior either. Probably used to fighting humans so developed a habit of using brute force to overcome them with her height. As for Beatrice, he had a feeling that she made up for skill mostly in unpredictability and sheer fury.

Anyone can look scary if they scream real loud and flail their knives at you.

The way their crew behaved was enough to tell him as  much. No one on the ship really respected them, and Geea ruled mostly out of ear, her men were not as loyal to her as she thought they might be, and he had a feeling that, for the right price, he could buy them off if he wanted.

He rested his palms flat against the table before him, “You understand if I am going to do this I am going to need all the right equipment. You want the man gone but I want it to look like some freak disappearance The last thing my crew needs is the long arm of the GA down on our heads.” he shook his head, “No we need to do this strategically, and we need to do this quietly, and we are going to start by getting the tech we need to pull this off without being seen.”

He turned to look at the two of them, “I am assuming that you two know where I can get those sorts of things…. Under the radar.”

Geea crossed her arms over her chest, “And YOU don’t. You are a pirate after all.”

“Yeah, I generally tend to STEAL from other people and sell it to middle men. I don’t generally tend to buy any of the goods.”

Geea  stood, waiting for a long moment before finally uncurling her hands in annoyance, “Fine, Fine, but we make this quick.”

He nodded his head once and motioned her to continue on following her up and to the bridge where he watched her set a course.

He tried to make it look like he wasn’t watching her, but in the back of his mind he was quickly memorizing the coordinates that he saw appearing on screen. Granted he did have a bot installed that should copy it for him, but you can never trust technology to do exactly what you expect it to do.

When she was done, he moved forward and slid into the Captain’s chair, familiar with the machine as he prepared it for a warp sequence.

Despite him being very familiar with this ship, more than one time he found himself accidentally reaching for controls that weren’t there. He cursed his muscle memory, though he forced the ship into doing what he wanted, alerting the crew to the imminent warp before he could accidentally kill one of them by sheer freak accident.

Geea watched him from behind.

He knew she didn’t much like him.

That was fine by him. She wasn’t exactly the kind of person that he would want to be liked by.

They came out of warp a few moments later with a hard lurch through the internal dampeners were doing their job to avoid smearing him across the front windscreen like window pizza.

She walked up to stand beside him and rested her hand of the chair, the gesture reminded him of someone else, and it felt wrong to have her do it, though he tried not to show his discomfort.

“Just beyond that asteroid.”

Captain Kell raised an eyebrow. This was all very interesting. Here he was thinking they would end up back on Noctopolis, for he had been sure that that was the hub of all pirate activity in the universe, but he guessed not. As they came around another asteroid, his eyes fell on a large chunk of rock that must have been over ten miles wide in his shi[s estimation, and from here he could already see the hive of docking ports and extending protrusions built into the rock.

He blinked in awe at the glittering blue lights and the hive of activity surrounding the massive asteroid.

Ships flew in and out through open docking bays landing here and there on extending arms. Good were moved by silent crane arms through space as add ons were constantly being made by men in space suits scurrying over the rock. The palace was…. Amazing at the same time it was an absolute disaster of engineering. You would never see something like tat made by the GA or UNSC, but from here he could see plenty of influence from all parties.

As they flew closer, they were absolutely dwarfed by the massive rock, and it’s protruding arms. All around him he saw human building techniques, and Tesraki logos stamped on almost everything as they moved forward. Massive viewing screens were all around them doing advertisements on things would would never have seen on a location run by UNSC or GA interference.

The one to his right was some sort of bootleg pill for weightloss, while, on the other side, someone was advertising some kind of flamethrower. The screen above that was giving the specs for the newest design in railgun technology.

His eyes were wide as he stared at all of it, and his heart began to race fast inside his chest.

Now THIS was awesome.

Being a space pirate sure did have its perks.

Over the radio feed static rolled in and out as the broadcasts from the different advertisements tried to pick up his frequency.

But one voice came in clear and crisp above all others, “Unknown aircraft. Identify yourself.”

“This is the Infinity requesting docking.”

There was a momentary pause over the other end of the line, as their ship was likely scanned before, “Docking permission granted, please proceed to hanger E docking space 6.”

He did as ordered, flying his ship down to the entrance of the docking bay, where he was ordered to slow, and then a large mechanical hand grabbed them around the hull and pulled them further into the asteroid.

They were dragged inside a ways, though he could definitely have flown in himself, and eventually sat down on E6. 

There was a sharp jolt as they made connection with the airlock, and he stood rom his spot, turning and walking past Geea and towards the cargo bay where his men were waiting. He looked at them each in turn, making slow eye contact with them.

“You know what to do?”

There was a nod as they recognized the true words behind his eye contact, and they quickly moved into pairs of two discussing which piece of “equipment” they were looking for.  It likely wouldn’t take them long, but he didn’t expect that part of their mission to take that long anyway.

Following after them, he was accompanied by Geea, Beatrice and Noble as they walked out into the tube and finally, into the absolutely massive atrium of the hidden Pirate city.

He had to stop, he just couldn’t help it, it was like nothing he had ever seen before, and his mind just couldn’t wrap itself around the massive room full of people and billboards and holograms. There were railed transports on the floor, and there were vendors selling strange food at every turn. It might have been any normal metropolitan area if it weren’t for the sort of advertisements for weapons, and strange illegal creams.

There was one place that was advertising body modifications….. With a ten percent discount if you got the limb removed with them as well.

On another wall someone was advertising a new mechanical eye. The technology hadn’t been released to the public yet, but the features…. Well the features were amazing. He found himself dragged in and rendered mostly stunned. They had him hooked by the first demonstration.

He wanted a cool new mechanical eye.

But Geea grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him, “Aren’t we supposed to be doing something.”

Angrily he frowned and held up a hand turning on her with his eyes narrowed.

He prodded her in the chest in a show of dominance towards her. Letting her know that he wasn’t afraid of being insulted or intimidated by someone  like her. To him she was nothing.

“Look, I’m not stupid. I know that this genius little assasination attempt wasn’t your idea, so right here and right now, you better take me to the asshole who set you up for this is you can color me gone. I don’t work through third parties.” He prodded her in the chest again with one finer, “I don’t trust them.”

The Drev stared down at him with absolute rage and consternation.

“Don’t touch me.” She hissed.

He prodded her again, “Just try and stop me.”

She reached for his hand, but he caught her by the wrist and twisted it. He knew the way Drev joints worked, so he knew exactly what NOT to do. She howled in pain and Beatrice moved forward to help, but a spear to her throat by Noble was enough to stop her in her tracks.

“Show me your boss, or your girlfriend becomes a kabob, your choice.”

There was a sharp growl and finally Geea agreed, taking her hand back with some measure of pain and annoyance, “Fine, fine…. Follow me.”

She stalked away grumpily and Noble kept an eye on beatrice as the were led further into the station.

The captain kept his head turning this way and that distracted by the bright and colorful ads, advertising things that he wanted, and some things that he didn’t.

To his surprise, more than once he saw advertisements for Iron eye Knockoffs. He would have dared get a procedure done on this back alley asteroid, but it was still quite shocking. This air of shock continued along with him as he was led down through the darkness and into the tight passages and tunnels of the Asteroid.

Eventually Geea stopped in front of a door and knocked once.

The camera above the door whirred and looked down at them. Geea waved to it and with a hiss it finally opened.

They were led into a small waiting room with pristine little couches as if he was expecting to see a doctor at any moment, but after a few minutes of sitting another door opened and they were allowed through into the next room.

Geea told him to stay put as she was led behind yet another door.

Not to be left Behind, Beatrice followed after, giving him the opportunity to slip over to the door and quickly deploy a small circular camera which used technology unknown to him to see through the door. 

It streamed directly into his fake eye as he closed the real one, and glanced around the room.

He could hear voices, and enhanced the sound of his implants.

“Did you get the assassin.”

“Yes, but there have been some, hiccups.”

“What might that be?”

“He is insisting on meeting his employers.”

The voice seemed almost bored with the idiot pirates, “Then let him meet someone, he doesn’t have to know. Jerah over there will do just fine.”

He turned his fake eye towards the source of the voice falling on some sort of hologram. He quickly looked up just as Geea was turning back towards the door.

He managed to make it up to the person’s face, a Rundi, how str-

Then he froze in shock and disbelief.

Geea reached towards the door, and it was only with a swift movement he was able to pull his camera away in time an leap from the door as she stepped from the room.

He tried to keep the horror and shock on his face in check as he was led into the room to meet his “employer.”

He didn’t care though.

He knew the truth.

There was plenty of evidence on that camera. Evidence that the chairwoman of the GA had ordered his assassination.

[my-writings-and-musings]

Here's my latest commission from another wonderful and amazing person! A human reader is secretly a pyrokinetic, but an attack on Rodimus forces them to reveal their powers, and the more they unleash the more their appearance changes...

Warning for some violence and angst!

In the back of your mind, your relationship with Rodimus had been oddly perfect and ironic in ways you'd never dare tell him. The Autobot's love of heat had extended well beyond a simple temperature preference; he had a power over fire you'd never seen the likes of before. Even his own species didn't seem to understand how naturally he wielded flames for combat, nor how he possessed such an incredible resilience to temperatures that would have been painful for most. For his part, the cocky captain took the peculiarity in stride, emblazoning himself with fiery motifs and embracing his nature using an adorable mixture of puns and catchphrases.

It was something you loved about him, and while it perhaps explained some of his adoration of the seemingly unremarkable human that had plopped into his life, it also made you a little wary for his sake. If he only knew how attuned with fire you really were...

The thought of him discovering your greatest secret was a daily intrusion, but for today, you decided that it could go on the back burner. The Lost Light would be docking on a planet safe for humans, and you wanted to enjoy the time off to the fullest of your ability. No worries, no paranoia, no thoughts of past rejection... just you and Rodimus exploring a vibrant alien city together. It was going to be perfect.

"Got your debit chip, Y/N? I'm planning on doing a lot of shopping, and I don't want you to feel left out!" Rodimus said, exuberant even by his own standards as he stepped out onto the landing pad. Giggling as you kept your balance on his shoulder, you let the warm light of a foreign star cascade over your body with a sigh, the sight of a bustling alien port making your heart accelerate in your chest. All around you were races from a hundred different worlds, selling their wares and taking rest stops to relax during long intergalactic trips, and the flurry of sounds and sights and smells was intoxicating. You almost forgot to confirm the device Rodimus mentioned was indeed secure around your neck in a makeshift necklace.

"Got it right here! Show me where we should start, Captain!" You held the tiny black square in between your fingers, unable to imagine something so small holding so much value. Evidently it was the spacer equivalent of a debit card, as the name implied, and after a purchase it would simply be scanned and the necessary amount deducted from your account. Its simplicity was almost as hard to grasp as the fact you'd been gifted a ludicrous amount of money for this trip by Drift. In his own words, the ninjabot had told you to spend it on having a fun day with his best friend. The kindness of the entire crew was still so foreign to you...

"Let's check out the surf shop! My last board melted on an especially high power asteroid, so I need a new one." Rodimus said cheerfully, hefting you a little higher so you were right beside his helm. As a somewhat taller than average individual from a naturally towering species, he had an ideal view over everything in sight, resulting in you having the same. Between the packed landing strip and the notion of a store that sold surfboards for space, you were a little too overwhelmed to speak. Rodimus had no such difficulty. "Oh, or if you're hungry, we could check out an interspecies cafe! They've always got lots of earth food, even out here. Especially the extra spicy stuff you like so much."

For an instant, you were taken aback by his mention of your preference. Had he truly been paying so much attention he noticed such little details? On the one, more dominant hand, you were flattered. Rodimus had to care deeply to have noticed you preferred your food as hot and zesty as physically possible.

"I'm not hungry just yet, but thanks." you said in genuine gratitude, hiding some wariness that you desperately wished would go away. In the past your unnatural preferences had been the first clue most had to your "peculiarities", and it had never taken long from that point for things to come together in the worst possible way. Holding on tight to Rodimus for more than just balance, you quickly returned to the wonderful present, refusing to fall into the belief that the past would repeat itself. "I just want to start wherever you think is best. You're the experienced one, show me what's fun around here!"

"Well, if it's fun you want..." he said in a fake contemplative voice, having obviously had an idea he was preparing to spring on you. Taking long strides through the narrow path left by the many other denizens of the spaceport, he gave you an eager and barely restrained grin. Something almost like childish glee seemed to twinkle in his brilliant blue optics.

"There's a holo-suite lounge in some hole in the wall locale by the bay. I've heard nothing but good things about it, and it's all above board. Want to go on a vacation in a vacation?"

Thinking over your limited knowledge of the virtual reality establishments, you knew more than anything how your beloved bot adored the experience of risk free adventure they offered, finding it to be relaxing due to his day to day life. You were more than happy to let him show you one at long last, and chuckled happily as you leaned against his helm. "I'd love to, Captain."

"Yes! I have got to show you the coaster simulation, it's totally wild!" he said in victory, pumping his arms so suddenly you were nearly cast off his shoulders. Recovering quickly and catching you, he let out an abashed cough as he made sure to resettle your tiny form before proceeding far more carefully. In the moment it took you to realize the lack of leg room would make it rather hard for him to trek it anywhere in good time, Rodimus gestured to a narrow gap between skyscrapers. "We can cut through some alleys to get there faster. I plotted it out on the satellite map before we landed."

Though it didn't seem especially smart, there wasn't anything to suggest the move would be dangerous, as the planet had been cleared entirely as a secure zone. The few whisperings of anti-Cybertronian bias were too small for anyone to be worried, so you nodded your assent to use the shortcut. Careful to stick to the narrow walkways for beings of his size, Rodimus kept you secure with one hand as he hopped an underwhelming barrier to access the alleyway, chatting the whole time about all the possible simulations the two of you could try. He's talking so fast it's actually impossible to keep up as he walks between two superstructures and down the alleyway that feels more like a canyon. As the hubbub of the crowd fades to the gentler din of the machinery keeping the city going, it's easy to forget your surroundings entirely, all to allow the other's excitement to wash over you. You don't even notice how the alleyway has tiny side sections for maintenance and smaller species to traverse safely.

Until you see one pop out right in front of you.

Rodimus stops politely, assuming initially he's just met another traveler that he plans on letting pass so as not to be rude. But the alien doesn't move. Though you can't read their expression, the none too tiny organic immediately sets of your alarm bells, and a hot knot of anxiety twists in your stomach as you tense atop your partner's stiffening shoulders. As awkwardness morphs into tension, the Autobot speaks with an even and cool tone.

"There a problem here?"

An answer came not from the insect like being in front of you, but from another stepping out in the space behind, their clawed hands curled about a weapon of unknowable function.

"Typical tin man, cutting corners and plodding around like it owns the place." they said, rasping voice echoing through the translator in your ear. Before you could even guess what they meant by a phrase that was probably intended to be an insult, more began to slowly emerge from splintering alcoves and alleyways, and in moments the two of you were surrounded. Skillful as Rodimus was in a fight, there had to be enough firepower between them all to make this far from an easy win. As heat crackled instinctively to your palms, the Autobot remained calm.

"Look, if this is your filthy back alley, I'll happily leave you to it. I've got better places to be and far more attractive company to enjoy." he said glibly, making you want to kick him for not being diplomatic. For his sake he needed to be, and as for you, situations like this one had never gone well in the past... Your heart began hammering as the lead alien replied with what was likely a glare.

"Bit too late for that."

Like sharks, they began to close in on the much bigger bot. You wondered how things could have taken a turn so quickly. This was a reputable port on a stable planet, how could it be unsafe? Had the two of you not just been planning a day of fun? These aliens had to have been waiting to be this prepared, and as the next one spoke you started to understand.

"Should have stayed in your own corner of space, tin man. We're not gonna let your kind set up shop here."

"Last I checked, this was a bot friendly planet." Rodimus replied, still unnerved but tense as a rock beneath you. He was getting ready, you knew, but for what was anyone's guess. As you held onto him you prayed the plan was solid, because the heat in your body was starting to grow to levels he might notice, and that couldn't be allowed to continue. Hopefully his need to stall wouldn't last long...

The circling group, that you counted at twenty or more, took the bait. "For now, until the beauracracy gets its priorities straight. In the meantime, we're here to make sure you don't bring your trouble to our home, like your kind always does."

"Plus, can't hardly expect the authorities to prosecute what they don't know about, can you?" another said, now so close Rodimus could have kicked them. The hatred in their eyes was beyond you, and their words made the heat in your gut twist into nausea. "Your kind is easy to clean up afterwards; melt down what you can and sell it all offworld."

Rodimus, one hand still steadying you, tightened his grip possessively. Time felt like it was slowing down as you looked about madly for an exit, swearing that the enemy seemed to double every time you blinked. There had to be over twenty of them now, and the high but narrow space gave your partner little room to work with you in the mix, something he seemed well aware of as he next spoke. "What about the human? They're innocent in all this, and organic. Let them walk away."

"They chose the wrong side." the apparent leader clipped.

Bright blue optics looked to you, and a hushed voice whispered at impossible speed.

"Y/N, when I say now, be ready to tuck and roll and run. No looking back, understand?"

There was no time to say you agreed, let alone to argue.

"Now!" he shouted as a high energy weapon began to hum in preparation, followed by so many others. Before you knew it you were being moved in a wild blur. Rodimus made good on his plan, moving as precisely as he could with your comparatively fragile body to toss you over the heads of the enemy. Using the reflexes you'd honed in his company, you did as you were bid more or less subconsciously, curling up and moving with the momentum so that your landing was less than disastrous.

"Rodimus!" you choked out upon catching your breath, turning to see the group advancing with their weapons glowing hot and ready.

I said run!" he shouted, not looking at you before taking care of the first row of attackers with a wide arcing kick. More seemed to be emerging every second, but the Autobot only looked concerned for you as he swiped away another batch. "Get the others! I can hold them off until-!"

With a screech, the first weapon fired, but there was no energy beam or bullet. Instead, Rodimus was ensnared in a tangled mess of high voltage cords, their arcing metallic webs circling his upper body like a snake. Crackling electricity seared across him in a blinding burst, and he was on his knees in moments, crying out at the agony that left him helpless. In rapid succession several more shots were fired. The Autobot was left to scream on his hands and knees, the electronic pulse weaponry having been specifically designed to cripple Cybertronians in seconds and kill them in minutes.

You knew he wouldn't last long enough for you to get help.

In last ditch desperation, you grabbed the cord on your neck and pulled, snapping it so the microchip in your palm could be held aloft. "Please! I have a debit chip worth thousands! Just take it and leave him alone!"

"Just something else to make this more worth our while." the alien you'd begged to sneered, giving you a kick straight to the gut with a deceptively powerful leg. The wind was knocked from your lungs, and you were left trembling on the ground. Vision spinning, you caught sight of Rodimus barely clinging to consciousness, his flaring optics pleading for you to run. Clawed hands had a hold of your arms before you could attempt to fight back, and the leader gave a casual order as they continued to fire pulse after pulse through the metallic web. "Grab the sympathizer; we'll take care of them after this one's fried."

It was clear that survival hinged on the unthinkable. Heat in your gut became molten as you summoned what you knew was your only hope, the air about you filling with the scent of smoke as you looked up Rodimus one final time as his partner. You'd always hoped it would never come to this, but fate, it seemed, was determined to be unkind.

"I'm sorry..."

The aliens on either side of you yelped and released their hold on your arms as the skin went from hot to searing, their confusion turning to fear as the heat only continued to intensify. Your clothes singed and the air thickened, and while it only took moments, the remaining attackers became aware of the change far too late. Shouts of alarm didn't register amongst the crackling sparks that started dancing up and down your body. It had been very long since you'd used these gifts, but you knew the steps far too well to ever forget.

A jet of flame erupted from your palms with the force of a rocket leaving the earth, blasting back numerous aliens from the sheer power. You heard screams but they hardly dissuaded you, as they'd all more than earned what was coming. The heat began to reach levels high enough to clear the air of any moisture, making those still alive after the first blast cough and struggle to breathe, all the while rendering them incapable of fleeing.

You should have just ended it there; cut the flames and told the survivors to get lost, but you weren't done. It felt far too good for you to stop.

A literal ring of fire encircled the gathered aliens, trapping them all in with you as they tossed aside their white hot weapons and tried to find a way out. Rodimus was immune even to the extreme heat, but dazed enough from his shock not to truly be conscious. You stepped over to him as the fire danced at the command of your fingertips. After the fear of the ambush, the choking heat and crackling flames felt like a breath of fresh air. You were at home in the inferno.

Hearing a scream, you realized rather quickly that payback was still due. Smiling softly, you beckoned the fire to move, controlling it with mere gestures and the simplest of thoughts. It danced like a snake would for a master charmer, coiling about the enemy and suffocating them. You were far too busy indulging yourself to notice how the waves of heat washed over your skin, particularly how the flesh hardened and patterns began to emerge like the scales of an otherworldly being. Similiarly, the sharpening of your teeth and the rise of claws from your fingertips drew no trace of concern. All that mattered was how good it felt to make your attackers pay.

There were more than enough of them for you to take your time, and so you did, keeping them corralled in the fire as you picked them off one by one. Had they expected anything like this when they'd made you a target? Had they prepared for the possibility that not everyone would just lie down and die? Had they even bothered to consider the Autobot wasn't the most dangerous being here?

As one body crumbled to ash, you got your answer in a way that made you smirk; clearly they hadn't.

As you began to run low on targets, it occurred to you that keeping up your wall of fire might draw unnecessary attention. Frowning around canines you realized had developed a lovely point, you decided to finish the fun. Clawed fingertips snapped together to command the flames to converge, and they did so in a heartbeat, jumping upon the survivors like rabid dogs on a meal. You barely registered a scream before ash and cinders began drifting past on a hot breeze. With another smile, you recalled their comment on crimes going unpunished when they were properly cleaned up. Dismissing the fire with a wave of your hand, you thought smugly on how these piles of soot would hardly suggest what had happened here.

Rodimus stirred from his daze, groaning in discomfort and shifting beneath the web of deactivated electric pulsers. Frowning at the sight, you summoned a thin jet of fire from your fingertips and got to work. The metal coils turned to red slag with very little effort, which melted down the heat resistant bot's body like wax before dripping to the ground around him. In no time you had him free, and while the flames actually seemed to perk him up a bit, the Autobot was clearly not in a good way. When he failed to awaken after you said his name your confidence started to dissipate. Heart hammering once more, you dropped to your knees beside his helm, hoping to wake him with some gentle encouragement to get him moving.

It was when you laid your hands on his helm that your thoughts shifted to horror, but not for his sake. The normal human hands you had once possessed were now tipped with wicked claws, and as your eyes trailed upwards you saw that your skin was patterned with scales of an equally inhuman nature. Sharp fangs registered with proper horror in your mouth now that the adrenaline of the moment was gone, and you realized that unlike every single time before, you weren't turning back to normal. You must have gone too far this time... How could you not have, killing dozens of people, as desperate as the situation may have been? You had liked it too, and even now you couldn't bring yourself to regret what you'd done...

"Y/N?" a raspy voice spoke up, startling you with good enough news that you momentarily forgot your panic. Rodimus stirred more effectively, groaning in pain but appearing otherwise stable as he lifted his helm off the ground and looked to you. His expression turned to fearful concern before you could speak. "Are you okay? What did they do to you?"

"I..." You didn't have the words. No doubt you were a horrifying sight, twisted as you were and smoking in your burnt clothes... It was a miracle he recognized you at all.

Rodimus narrowed his optics, perhaps thinking everything he'd seen was the result of processor trauma from his shock. "You burned them... I saw... but you don't have a weapon."

"I am the weapon." you blurted out, baring your fangs without meaning to. At his confusion, you tried to explain, a sinking feeling pulling you down as you did so. There was no way you could be with him like this... Appearance aside, you'd awoken a part of yourself you couldn't trust. Still, he deserved to know. "I never told you... I've always been able to do this, but could never go too far, unless..."

"You saved me." he whispered in awe, weak but insistent as he reached for you. On reflex, you pushed his hand away.

"I killed them. All of them. I finally lost control and now..."

Rodimus perked up a bit, looking desperate when your intent became clear to him. Even after a beating, he could read you well, and your decision to leave for his sake was clear in your face. "They were going to kill us both! You didn't do anything wrong-"

"Look at me!" you shouted back, curling clawed hands into fists as each grabbed at your head. You swore you felt newly erupted horns crowning your brows, and that discovery drew sizzling tears down your cheeks. "I burned them, and I liked it, and now I look like this! I'm a monster, and I'd do it again!"

"Y/N-"

Wiping away the wetness from your eyes, you stood up sharply, knowing he wouldn't accept what was best for him. "You can't be with me like this, Rodimus. I'm not even human..."

"I'm not either!" A gentle but insistent hand looped about your middle, turning you back around to look at him before he nearly collapsed from the effort of the movement. Wide blue optics pled to you as he did the same, baring his spark with every single word. "Please, Y/N, I know this is a lot for you but please... don't leave me... I can't lose you."

"Haven't you already?" you said bitterly, optimism nowhere to be found as you surveyed a clawed hand. Rodimus didn't flinch at the sight.

"You think a new look will scare me away? Plus, I'm fireproof, remember? You can't hurt me." he said with his best attempt at a winning smile in his current state. Losing it in an instant, he hugged you closer, optics betraying the depths of his pain and desperation as he did so. The Captain was holding on to you like a lifeline. "I need you, okay? Please, just give me a chance to work this out with you. I love you, no matter what."

It was the first time he'd told you that, but you knew he meant it. A softer heat, like a pleasant campfire, filled the space around your heart. Holding a digit of his in your hand, you gave a gentle squeeze. "I love you too..."

"So stay with me?" he said softly, pulling you in for something like a hug. Getting down on your knees, you cuddled close to his helm, a few stray tears dripping down onto his armor. Rodimus didn't even flinch as he whispered into your ear. "We'll figure this out. I don't care if this is the new normal, as long as you're with me."

"Okay..." you replied, nodding as you recalled the thoughts of irony you'd had just that morning. How perfect he was for you, a fireproof being so enamored he didn't see what a risk you were to everything... But if he was willing to try? Well, you couldn't deny how much you wanted this to work either... Holding him tight, you replied with the best promise you could give at the moment, but like him you meant it.

"We can try..."

Like this? You can commission me for a story of your own here!

[twelvemonkeyswere]

for the meme, yuck and also dancing dragons????

Hey Bots 💖!!!! Thank you for asking about these!! :D 

yuck

oh dear. well, this one’s called “yuck” because that’s the feeling I had while planning it skdjskdj. it’s a 9.5k outline (with snippets and an added spreadsheet) for my “what if JB had met before the handchop in court and there wasn’t a war AU”, which is also my “Rhaegar lives but Jaime still kills Aerys AU.” It began as a sort of exercise in curiosity because I was interested in the question of “would JB pay attention to each other if they did not meet in the excrutiatng circumstances they met”, and how that would come about. It spiraled into me creating a whole AU to make it work skdskdj. It includes many self-indulgent things like JB meeting first at a ball for Jon’s birthday (he’s legit, but Lyanna’s still dead), JB working together to defeat a boar while in a hunting party, Brienne looking for the royal kennels and finding out Jaime is already there and is friends with the dogs, Brienne’s dad getting injured and Jaime stepping up to help, wet shirts, etc etc. The idea was for them to first butt heads as usual but slowly warming up to the other. I left it when it threatened to eat me alive a la Audrey II. It’s also one of the first times I was trying to write JB so I’d likely change many things now, but I’m still fond of some of the moments there.

Dancing Dragons

(thank you for asking about this one because this is another I really want to pull off!!!!! 💖💖💖)

This one started because I was thinking about the “feeding maidens to the dragon” trope, and how maybe that is a rule people have misunderstood for generations because humans have short lifespans while dragons could potentially live for millenia, so our scales (heh) for measuring time and our memories about events would be very different.

So in this story there’s a village that has been living since forever at the bottom of a mountain, and suddenly one day the mountain starts to tremble, and they hear roars coming from the mountain, and they realize there’s a dragon there. it had been so long since anyone had seen a dragon they thought it was all stories, so they turn to their annals, where their ancient wisdom is preserved. and it says the only thing worse than a dragon is a roaring dragon, because it heralds the coming of more dragons, and the only way to qualm them is to give them food. so it’s either everyone piching in (which they can’t, because winter is about to come) or feeding the dragon... people. But it has to be a maiden, and even then it might not work. so they select maidens, and they pull straws to decide who gets to be thrown into the hole. I wanted the story to focus on Hay, who is around 16 or so and she gets selected. the whole village is about to fight at the last minute because not everyone is okay with this idea, but others are scared their own daughters will get chosen. so Hay decides enough is enough, and that she will walk up the mountain herself, and figure out what the hell is happening if no one else is.

it turns out when she gets there, the dragon is nesting. she is moving rocks around and digging because she is preparing for a possible egg (like a turtle, she was also born in that mountain, and returns periodically to it), and she’s been roaring because dragons are very scarce, and she needs to try and find a mate, which is more diffcult with each passing century. Hay hears the dragon’s stories about the other maidens she had seen arrive to the hole. Her favorite story, though, is about how dragons court each other. It’s all about dancing. They swing and soar together in the air, not unlike macaws who mirror each other when they fly, and when the dragons finally connect, it is the most beautiful dance anyone could witness. Sadly, the dragon has never been able to actually see or participate in one, because she hasn’t been able to find another dragon in a long, long time. In the end I wanted the story to be about loneliness and the nature of stories themselves, and finding friendship and companionship in life, especially when a partner may never come.

There’s a bit after the read more in case you’re interested!

Come ask me stuff about my WIPs if you want!

Step by step she attempted the descent. She held with hands and toes to rocks and ledges. As she went along, the darkness receded, and once she thought she’d never see the end, her heart pounded faster in her neck as she distinguished the creature.

The dragon was so massive Hay couldn't make out its real shape until she got to the bottom. The sleek, long body twisted around and onto itself, like a curled up snake. The scales glittered, even in the poor lighting, and the wings held tight to the body. It was dark red, and when it didn't move it looked like the rocks surrounding it. 

Hay watched from behind one of those rocks, agape. 

From time to time, spasms jittered the dragon’s body, and the growls became stronger and harsher. It would soon scream again. Hay wondered if it would deafen her or kill her instantly. She realized she was hoping, instead of wondering, and felt sorry for herself an instant before the sound came.

The walls grumbled.  Rocks and dirt fell from where the dragon growled, and then again as it pushed the debris to the side. Hay caught a glimpse of the face at last. Yellow eyes, long snout, vapor coming from the nostrils, and the bared teeth. The creature attacked the wall with renewed force, and it growled and scratched until another piece of rock fell to the ground. The dragon stopped, heaving through its warm body. Hay could feel the heat even from her hideout.

“Ha!” the dragon let go, twirling its mouth in a smile. Hay blinked rapidly. “Take that!”

Its voice was strong and powerful, full of smugness and satisfaction. 

“Bloody stupid thing,” it murmured, pushing the rock to one side and making room among the dirt. 

The dragon was carving.

“What the fuck,” Hay heard herself say. 

The dragon’s face shot up from its work, twisted in a snarl. A batch of steam rose from its open jaws. 

Hay covered her mouth with a hand, but the dragon was already advancing. The horrible, reptilian irises of its eyes widening and slinting as it searched among the dirt and residue.

Hay sank behind the rock, crouching with her face to the wall and willing herself to disappear into the ground. Rage shot through her then. She had come here to die and save her village, had she not? Yes, one part of her brain said. But how would the dragon know what she had come to die for?

She wasn’t able to dispute with herself this point as a puff of air resounded over her head. There was a sharp breath intake, and then another, and then another. Hay’s knees and hands were shaking nonstop, as the dragon followed the smell. The movement stopped, and Hay glanced up slowly.

The dragon’s eye was fixed on her, peeking from over the rock. She wanted to scream, but couldn’t get the sound through her chest.

“A human?” the dragon whispered. “What the--I’ll be--”

The dragon pushed the rock aside with its snout. Hay quickly turned around to face it, but found herself pushing her back against the rock wall.

“Hu-man,” the dragon said, speaking slowly and deliberately. “Can-you-un-derst-and-me?”

Hay didn’t reply, awestruck.

“Damn,” the dragon continued, looking up at the edge. “How long did I sleep? Did you forget how to talk, hu-man?”

Hay kept gaping like a fish.

“Of course you wouldn’t know if you did,” the dragon shook its head. “What will I ever do with you.”

The dragon’s intonation was hard to follow, as the long snout moved in funny ways as it made an effort to form sounds. But they were human sounds.

Hay saw as the dragon tried to shift all its weight again to examine the cavity it had been making, and she stepped forward before she could think more about what she was about to do.

“Please have mercy!” she blurted. The dragon stopped, looking over the place its wings began. “Please have mercy of my town!”

The dragon furrowed its brow--or at least that’s what it looked like in the long, scaled face. 

“Your town?”

“I’m a maiden!” Hay continued, throwing herself on her knees and extending her hands. “I’m not married, and I’ve never been with-with child.” She wasn’t sure why she was mentioning this, but the elders had thought it was important. “Please take me, but don’t take my people!”

She closed her eyes, bracing herself for death. She hoped it was quick, and as painless as possible. Maybe the neck would snap immediately, and she wouldn’t have to feel the heat inside the dragon’s belly. 

Minutes passed in silence. She peeked an eye open. The dragon simply watched her, a combination of pity and awkwardness in the pitfire of its stare.

Hay coughed. “You’re not--you’re not going to eat me?” 

The dragon blinked. Its eyelids were transparent and parted sideways, like a cat’s.

“No?”

[tinycrow]

I don’t believe in miracles

Chapter 2: Discovery

:: Unknown Location ::

It had officially been half a decade since Mission City. The autonomous robotic organism and caretaker named Ray was no longer finding ‘babies’ that were sparked by the entity known as the All-Spark. She hoped that this was because she had collected them all, rather than the babies dying off or being otherwise ‘acquired’ by another agency. With no real reason to risk being seen, she spent most of her time raising the sparklings at her home base. This was fine, she thought. She enjoyed seeing her sparklings grow to become upstanding workers in what was now a bustling, little city.

There were massive infrastructure changes that had been going on since the events in Egypt. There were 5 major underground tunnels that stretched across their territory. 3 of five tunnels led to an underground bunker that would hopefully protect any humans/non-humans that needed to wait out an attack on their fair city. It wouldn’t survive a direct hit from a nuclear explosion, but it was placed in such a way that it would hopefully not be targeted. It would keep warm and safe any occupants for a couple years. Other than the bunker, the tunnels provided a warmer route between buildings in the city, especially for humans. Still, it wasn’t uncommon for non-human residents to take up the role as “taxi” for other, smaller friends aboveground.

Because of this shift in foot traffic, non-humans were able to speed through the streets, rarely having to stop. Street racing was becoming a problem in recent years, to Max and Ray’s chagrin. There had been ongoing talk of incorporating bigger ‘bots into Max’s team in order to better police the streets, but ‘bots reaching near Ray’s size tended to be rare, considering how young all the other ‘bots in the city actually were.

There were also more places in the city to just hang out as well as enjoy food and drink. The greenhouse now sported a nice café as well as a plethora of flowers and other plant life.

“Okay. We’re going for a drive.”

“It’s... cold out,” Ray lamely refused, shoulders hunching slightly as she sat at a desk to read reports on her large data pad.

“It’s always cold out. We live in the freaking An-“

“I’m busy.”

“I know for a fact that you’ve already read through the security and finance reports. The rest can wait.”

“My babies-“

“-Are being taken care of by a team of now fully-trained humans and ‘bots. Besides, you don’t usually attend them at this hour anyway. We won’t be gone that long.”

Ray was silent and contemplative as she stared downward at Linda Davies, her long-time friend. Back when she was still roaming America, the red-headed woman had been one of her only companions, worried only about helping them both survive the next day. Linda was the one to suggest the novel idea of creating a place to call their own in a place outside the jurisdiction of any opposing government. It was a crazy idea from a possibly crazy friend, but then again, Ray’s life on Earth wasn’t sane from the very start.

Linda glared back in defiance. “You need a break. Enjoy some sunshine. Talk with friends.”

The ‘bot contemplated arguing with Linda more. They both knew, however, that Ray would be going with Linda. With a sigh, Ray put away the data pad and stood.

“Inside the city, or...?”

“I’ve got my eyes on someplace warmer.”

==

:: California, America ::

It was a much different experience, driving at a sedate/normal pace along with the rest of human-driven traffic. Ray didn’t mind it, but Linda seemed peeved as she shifted irritably in the front passenger seat. Perhaps she was too hot? Ray checked the temperature of the cabin and found it to be at a comfortable level with her cooling unit already on. Maybe she wanted some music? She pulled a playlist from the internet that seemed pretty popular.

Linda’s mood barely improved.

“What’s wrong, Linda?”

“I hate traffic.” She grumped, “How about... we stop for coffee and then drive farther from the center of town?”

The holoform in the driver’s seat frowned in thought.

“I guess... Though I feel less safe the farther from the ground bridge we are.”

“We won’t be long.”

==

An hour passes, and the two friends were driving along into the California countryside with the windows down and a coffee in Linda’s hand. Music was blaring from Ray, pulled from various sources as well as internal storage. They didn’t speak much, just enjoyed the feeling of being on the road again.

“Ah, I missed this,” the not-so-young woman said nostalgically, “I love our home, but I wish we had this kind of scenery, you know?” Linda griped with a smile.

“I agree. California’s nice. Actually... Earth is very nice.”

Linda smacked the dashboard lightly, causing the holoform to flicker out for a millisecond. The black-haired and green-eyed holoform grimaced with a small admonishment.

“Sorry. But you talk like you weren’t born here.”

Ray seemed to pause at that. “I suppose it is weird.” She hummed, and explained, “Sometimes it feels that way, you know? Being so different from the literal billions of humans that populate this planet.”

“And your time... before you changed?”

“Well...” The holoform exhaled harshly, “I lived a pretty lonely life. Other than the times I would help out local charities, nothing really made me happy. I’m pretty satisfied with where we are now, and I want to continue working in making life at home better for all of us. For all our kind.”

It was Linda’s turn to be thoughtful. She slowly formed the words, “You really want to open our home to the aliens.”

“Yes.” The answer came subdued but serious.

A familiar car turned onto their road.

The radio turned off.

“Linda, don’t be alarmed.”

Said woman’s back straightened. “Okay, we’ve gotta talk about ways to deliver bad news. What’s wrong?”

“That car behind us...  is one of the aliens we were discussing.”

Linda looked into the rear-view mirror and saw the silver sports car quickly gaining ground on them.

“Fuck no, he don’t.” Linda looked at the holoform of her friend, very displeased expressions on both their faces, “Can’t you go faster?”

“That depends. Are you going to throw that coffee away?”

“Is this really the time to worry about— “

“THROW IT.”

“OKAY!”

The coffee cup went sailing out the window and into the dry, yellow grass. The moment it hit the ground, Ray’s engine revved and her speed started steadily but quickly climbing. Because the road was fairly straight most of the way, she wasn’t worried about having to suddenly turn 90 degrees.

~ Ray and Linda to Shawn and Max. Linda and I are being followed. I need an emergency ground bridge. Are either of you at the console? ~

~ Shawn, here. I’m not, but I can be. Where are you, Sunshine? ~

~ Ray. We are in the California countryside. I don’t want to lead them back to the warehouses. Max, are you— ~

There was a huff of exhaustion as Max chimed in. ~ Max. I’m at the console. Send your coordinates. ~

Ray sent her coordinates as well as those of the car behind her. She told them how fast she was going.

Max swore. ~ There’s no way you can slow down, but if I send a ground bridge, you’re going to be a pancake on the building wall. I’ll look up exits. ~

Linda, hearing the conversation in her earpiece, gained a look of grim revelation.

~ Linda, here. I know none of us want to consider it, but we may need to fight. ~

Max was dismissive of the idea. ~ There are many reasons that won’t work. For one, they’re much more skilled at fighting than we are. There’s also the fact that they may be getting backup, while we don’t have anyone to backup Ray, unless we use the children— ~

Ray’s hackles rose at the thought, and she interrupted, ~ You are not sending my children after me. ~

Max sighed, sounding like he’d heard this, many, many times before.

~ I wasn’t going to. Look, there’s a gentle turn coming up, if you can pull a miracle and lose him, I can send a bridge to Point A. ~ Max sends Ray coordinates to a nearby farm.

~ Or to Point B. ~ He adds a new pointer further away.

~ Keep me apprised. ~ Max said, finally.

Ray affirmed the decision and planned. Knowing Linda would not approve, she kept it mostly to herself. She turned off the holoform, wanting to reserve processing power. It caught Linda’s attention.

“Ray?”

“Do you trust me?”

Linda narrowed her eyes at the dashboard, hearing her voice echo throughout the cabin.

“Do you trust me?”

==

~ Prime, that strange, unknown Cybertronian appeared again. They appear to have a human with them. I’m following them. ~

~ The human must be returned unharmed. Send your coordinates and we will block their escape routes. You are not to attack while they have the human. ~

~ Understood. ~

==

Ray took the gentle, right turn with slightly less speed but fully screeching tires. She would not let her friend come to harm. If this was to end in a confrontation, she would see her friend home, safe and sound with her people.

The dilapidated barn designated as Point A was coming up fast, and she swerved violently as she skidded to a halt, kicking up a massive storm of dust and dirt. She popped the door open. Linda jumped out, expecting a fight to happen. Just as expected, Ray transformed into her bipedal form, stance loose but looking vaguely like she was ready to fight.

~ Lin’, run to the barn and get that bridge open. ~

~ On it! ~

As the dust cleared, Linda had disappeared into the barn. Ray stepped cautiously forward, wanting to put distance between Linda and the other ‘bot. The silver car drifted in, transformed, and pulled out their blade all in one well practiced movement.

“Release the human, Decepticon, and I will let you live.”

Ray attempted to stall for time. “Not even a hello? A name? I’m afraid you got me at a disadvantage, sir.”

He stepped forward predatorily. She took a hesitant step back.

“Don’t play games with me, ‘con.”

~ It’s open! Hey, Max, wha—hey! Let me go! Ray! ~

Ray cut the transmission with some guilt, and opened a silent communication with Max.

~ Thanks, Max. ~

~ You realize the consequences of what you’re about to do, right? ~

~ I do. I leave my fate in your and our council’s hands. ~

“Well?”

Ray raised her hands slowly in surrender. With determination and serenity, she watched as a semi raced up to his comrade and transformed into bipedal form beside him. She blinked her optics at the new weapon pointed at her.

“I am no Decepticon.”

Sideswipe sneered, “Likely story. What were you doing with that human, then?”

“We were enjoying coffee and a drive through the California countryside,” she said calmly, and at the looks of disbelief, she clarified unnecessarily, “Oh, she was drinking coffee. I find no nutritional value in it.”

“Where is the human?” Optimus asked, getting back to the crux of the matter.

“Oh, back home I’m assuming. Max came by to pick her up.”

“Who is Max?”

“He’s chief of security for a rather large community of people. Are you going to arrest me, officers?”

Optimus gave a look to Sideswipe. Sideswipe resisted grumbling and cautiously approached the possibly deranged Ray, who had yet to draw a weapon.

“You are to follow us to an extraction point. If you deviate from the course, we will be forced to subdue you.”

“Alright, if you insist. Don’t stare at my bumper, I’m quite shy.”

The two mechs stared at her, and then glanced at each other.

‘Taking them off guard would be more fun if I wasn’t so terrified for what the future holds,’ she thought, and she thought of the children she probably wouldn’t be seeing in a very long time. She thought of the danger they could be in if things didn’t go well.

She focused on the details of the two mechs in front of her, hoping to ground herself, and pushed her fears down. She followed one mech and was in turn followed by the other.

==

A pacific Ray sat, essentially blinded in most senses, in what seemed to be a place for general storage. They had temporarily cut off her sight and other various sensors, leaving her with hearing and what was the robotic equivalent to touch. She had guessed that her captors did not have a designated holding area for non-human prisoners (a brig), and to keep their own secrets safe, deemed it necessary to take these precautions. She tried to be mad about it, but a large part of her understood; the Autobots and the humans associated with them were looking for Decepticons, and most Decepticons would rather die than be taken prisoner. Shuddering in fear, she admitted being blinded and constantly guarded wasn’t the worst that could’ve happened to her.

She sang a slow, crooning melody to pass the time and ease any anxiety.

Watching nearby were a pair of cold, blue optics that shuttered briefly at the sound. Memories from long, long ago of similar songs sung to them as a youth slipped into their awareness. The owner of these blue optics resisted the feelings of compassion and sympathy that threatened to take them off guard.

==

In a room far from the femme’s prison, the Autobots (barring one) were in a serious discussion.

“The femme certainly doesn’t act like any Decepticon I’ve seen,” Ironhide admitted.

“And of course, there’s no insignia showing which faction,” Sideswipe said, “Though she did run when she saw us. That’s enough cause for me.”

Optimus rumbled in thought, “Ray associates with humans. For most Decepticons, that would be beneath them.”

A human soldier also piped up, “What about her eye colour? Don’t they usually have red eyes?”

“The colour of one’s optics do not necessarily mean anything. Many Decepticons you have seen may have had red, but there have been those on our side with red as well. Hers are green, which are rarer, but it does not hold any specific meaning,” Optimus explained for the humans’ benefit. “Ratchet, what are your thoughts?”

“The femme has been compliant in every procedure taken to secure her as our prisoner. She has no internal weapons system, however she willingly offered information about her subspace storage containing a rifle, which I have disabled access to as well.”

No internal weapons? Not even a blaster? What kind of warrior disables themselves by not acquiring a proper weapon, especially in a war? The room erupted in chatter.

“Quiet.” The Autobot leader ordered, and then urged Ratchet to continue.

“I have been analyzing the unique radiation that she emits and can come to no conclusions yet. I will note however, that there’s something familiar about it.”

“Familiar, how?” Optimus inquired curiously.

“I cannot say for certain,” Ratchet demurred.

“Keep me updated,” their leader acquiesced, to which the chief medical officer just nodded.

In a quick private comm with Ratchet, Optimus asked, ~ Might I assume you do not want to broadcast whatever it is that is ‘familiar’? ~

~ You are correct. The radiation emitting from the Femme seems to react uniquely with the materials immediately surrounding her. On a molecular level, they are... moving unnaturally. ~

This news surprised Optimus, as this ability was something entirely new. ~ Could it be a new weapon? ~

~ It is hard to say. However, it’s familiar to one of the abilities of an entity we all know of and have lost. ~

~ ... We will talk about this later. ~

~ Indeed. ~

“For now, we will keep her under constant guard. Ratchet, you will continue studying her. All of you are to report any suspicious behaviour. If that is all, you are dismissed.”

==

One week after capture...

She heard a particular set of footsteps approaching and looked up with a genuine curve of her dermas (lips). She recognized those footsteps that had been visiting her almost every day since her capture. She greeted him sweetly.

“Ratchet.”

Ratchet didn’t bother hiding his pleased expression, knowing she couldn’t see.

“You can leave,” he told the guarding Autobot.

Arcee’s optics shuttered and opened again slowly in shock. “Ratchet?”

“Don’t worry, Arcee, she’s not going anywhere. But I technically count as her guard while I am here,” he explained, “so let me work in peace.”

Arcee, aware of Ratchet’s legendary temper, took the out as she saw it gracefully. “Alright. I’ll check in with you in one earth hour.”

“See you later, Arcee!” Ray smiled at the air, not quite sure where Arcee was as the femme was light-footed or on wheels? It was hard to tell.

When Arcee left, Ray turned to where she thought Ratchet was. A puzzled look and an inquiry were sent up to his left shoulder plate, “Is there a reason you sent her away?”

Ratchet settled himself in for a long conversation. There was the squeak of metal compacting slightly as he assumingly sat down on a crate. Ray was already sitting on the concrete with her legs tucked to the side. Her back strut straightened in attention as this event was different to the quiet study and offhand questioning he usually does. Though Ratchet had been nothing but gentle—if grumpy at times—with her, she wondered if that was about to change. Her spark quickened in a small niggling of anxiety.

It must’ve shown in her expression, because he quickly said, “You’re not going to come under any harm in my care, I assure you.”

Ray relaxed slightly, but still had her doubts as she asked, “Is something the matter?”

“I’ve been talking with Optimus and we both agree that it’s time to consider long term plans for your stay here. You have proven yourself to be non-hostile as well as open to our prodding at you and your radiation field. Such good behaviour does not warrant what could be considered torture by sensory deprivation.”

She simply stared blindly at him for a second before slowly admitting, “It would be nice... to see whom I am talking to.”

It only took around 15 minutes to re-enable the appropriate sensors, and he was being intentionally slow and careful. The first thing she saw was thick, yellow-plated servos. When they pulled away, her green optics were wide and bright as they took in the much taller mech. He was sitting, but by her estimates he would probably be at least 5 feet taller than she was. She vocalised a high whistle and winked.

“Cheeky brat. I bet you and Bumblebee would get along just fine.”

Ray took a moment to look at one of her kind captors. She knew the aliens were well armoured and gunned; she had seen it on the day of her capture. However, even the kind medic that had been in her company for days now seemed alarmingly well built. Subconsciously, she pulled her legs up to her chest, in the foetal position. She never liked conflict, but she understood why good people fought. Once upon a time, she was a fighter too, before The Change. But those were weaker foes compared to the aliens she faced now.

“There’s something else we’ve been meaning to talk to you about. You constantly assure us that you are not a Decepticon, but none of us recognize you, nor do we see any mark of affiliation with us.”

She was silent for a while. Ratchet seemed to wait patiently as she seemed to deliberate, optics tracing a path on the ground. The black-armoured femme seemed to come to a conclusion and faced him with a brave speech.

“That is because I am neither a Decepticon nor an Autobot.”

Ratchet didn’t seem surprised by her answer. Truthfully, Optimus and he had been speculating on this ever since she came into their custody. It was hard to believe, but it was the only explanation that fit. The Neutrals had been exterminated early on in the war. This faction was mostly made up of ones who could not or would not fight for one reason or another. They usually had a hard time making a living, and Decepticon raids would eventually become the reason that no Neutral was thought to be alive to this day.

If Ray was a Neutral, it would explain her behaviour towards humans and conflict with either of the opposing factions.

It didn’t quite explain away the radiation that caused nearby molecules to dance almost excitably in her vicinity, or the way she could put you at ease in her presence—a feeling of protection and unconditional love. There was just something missing from this explanation that Ratchet needed to figure out. He had asked specific questions before, but hopefully this time she would willingly answer.

“What colony are you from?”

His question was met with silence. Ratchet withheld a sigh of disappointment, but something in his demeanour must have changed. She saw his disappointment and immediately felt guilty.

She wanted so badly to tell the truth, but it couldn’t be helped. Her people had rights to their privacy and security. She hadn’t gotten communication from the council indicating it was okay to share that information—Ratchet didn’t know but she had easily repaired the severed wires in her antennae. Anyway, it was doubtful that the council would ever agree to open their city to the Autobots, because she knew the humans were afraid. She wished that the time they spent in her and her babies’ presence would ease some of that fear, but it was still not an easy decision to make. She could only hope her feelings reached the people she loved and trusted.

Ratchet tried a different angle, “When did you arrive on earth?”

Ray’s optics, formerly gazing guiltily away, snapped up to Ratchet. This she could technically answer. Her voice was soft but sure as she answered.

“Sometime in the 80’s. But I didn’t start travelling until the late 90’s and didn’t find a place to settle until... the Mission City disaster.”

He thought on this for a bit. It was a bit telling when the femme would be forthcoming with all topics except for where she came from and where she was staying. It made him wonder if there were more Neutrals hiding somewhere.

“Who was that travelling with you when we found you?”

With a pang of anxiety, Ray cautiously revealed, “Linda. She’s a good friend of mine. She... gave me a home.” It was as close to truth as possible. Linda didn’t just give her a home but had helped build it.

“Is there a way we can contact Linda?” He asked, and seeing her wariness, he continued, “If you were happy with her before, I’m sure Prime would let you return as her guardian.”

Ray visibly struggled with herself. There was distress at wanting to be open about her home—she was so proud of what she had helped build—but wanting to respect her people’s wishes. Something in her rattled, and her dentas clenched reflexively.

“I want to... but I can’t... I can’t... It’s not safe... We do not trust...” Her processor stuttered through the many things she wanted or needed to say but was scared of divulging. It created a loop she could not break herself out of.

Ratchet’s servo braced itself on her shoulder, and her continued stuttering petered out. His voice was consoling as he assured her that the Autobots did not mean her or any friend of hers harm, that they had promised to protect humans from the Decepticon threat. The rattling of her mechanical parts somewhere in her quieted, and she took in and vented out air harshly in a very human gesture of recovery.

“There you go. Easy now. You’re safe.”

He tried to pick up the conversation afterward, but her continued silence was worrying. Did she not feel safe here? Granted they took precautions to protect the base’s secrets, but she had not shown any negative effects of the treatment until now. He would speak with Optimus about improving the conditions of her stay here.

==

Three weeks after capture...

It had taken a lot of arguing, but she was finally allowed to—under strict supervision and great limitation—to ‘step’ out of the storage room. Though, to protect the secrets of the existence of Cybertronians, she was only allowed to be in vehicle mode, and it would be in the evening when most of the day’s work was done. Perhaps they were afraid of spy satellites seeing their bipedal forms. With her sight restored, she took the time away from the constant interrogation to simply enjoy the sunshine and the sound of waves nearby. She drove circles or figure 8’s around her guard as well as objects to exercise her precision driving. She even asked her guards about stunts like wheelies, which the amused Autobots agreed to teach her in the limited time she had outside.

Inside the storage room, she would turn into bipedal mode to work her joints, cables, and pistons. She would contort herself in all the ways she knew possible before she grew bored. Sometime during the middle of the day, Ratchet would come along to poke, prod, or ask her things. Very rarely did she ever see Optimus Prime, the Autobots’ leader. When she asked once, she was told he was very busy dealing with the human government and their liaisons. It wasn’t explicitly said, but it was obvious to her that the human government wasn’t happy with the Autobots’ continued stay on Earth.

Though Ray did her best to keep the secret of her little city, she could see that the Autobots were beginning to piece together little things she had been saying (or hadn’t remembered saying). They brought up what she said when Sideswipe and Optimus first cornered her at the abandoned farm, about Max and Linda, about the mysterious warehouse that was obviously just a warehouse and nothing to be suspicious about—

She wasn’t very good at this secret keeping business. Ray supposed it was inevitable that a race so much more experienced than she would start to figure it out, and she only hoped that her people would forgive her.

==

1 month after capture...

Not much changed over the next week, except she obviously gained some level of trust with the Autobots and was involved in less discrete conversations more. Perhaps they had figured out her secret already. They avoided telling her what they thought, so she wasn’t sure.

It was a little over a month when she got a communication from Max, who obviously spoke for the council in this matter. The break in the comm silence ever since her capture took her so off guard, that she froze in the middle of an interrogation. When asked what was wrong, she was too shocked to formulate the words she needed to say, and instead asked to be given some time alone with her guard.

It took her two hours to gather her courage, but she asked to meet with Optimus and Ratchet, stressing that she wanted them alone or she wouldn’t reveal anything. After the agreement was secure, she tried to secure the area against listening devices or humans, using her powers discretely to do so.

It was time.

[tf-imagines]

TFA Blitzwing & Human Reader, Wrong Place Wrong Time

You weren’t necessarily the luckiest of humans on the Earth, but you didn’t have the worst luck either. Most of the time, at least. Today seemed to be one of your worst days to date. You missed your alarm and woke up late, it had rained heavily that morning and your umbrella was at home, leaving you absolutely soaked. You were in dry clothes now but still grumpy, looking up when a large shadow passed over head. That plane is flying way too low for the area, but it didn’t look damaged...then it transformed.

Transforming vehicles weren’t a foreign concept to you anymore thanks to Detroit’s local heroes, the Autobots. However the mech before you was even larger than the Autobots, and you didn’t realize it was possible. While you contemplated and ogled, your fellow pedestrians were running away to avoid being nabbed or crushed in the fight that would undoubtedly follow. Unfortunately you didn’t make the same decision until you had already caught the large robot’s attention. You tried to run as it bent down to grab you, but it was faster. It lifted you up to its face, which was a pale blue with red eyes, though one looked more like a spectacle than a proper eye.

“Fascinating…” he started, clearly intrigued by you, speaking with a heavy German accent. “You did not run away with the other humans…”

Suddenly his face spun around, this time to one that was pure black, with terrifying red eyes and a jagged, pointy red mouth. “Maybe you just want to play with the big bots!”

You were thoroughly terrified now, squirming halfheartedly, but well aware that even if you got free, the drop would likely kill you if this mech didn’t. His face spun AGAIN, now revealing a red face with matching red visor, and a tooth gap that was….honestly kinda cute. Not the time for that, you know, but look. You’ve been trying to be optimistic today, you’re not stopping now. He snapped you out of your train of thought by speaking louder than the first two voices, but now not talking to you. Instead he was focused on the Autobots in front of him “If any of you come any closer, I will crush this puny human like a bug!”

You couldn’t help but squeak in response to the tightening grip, casting a scared glance to the Autobots and hoping they could help. Unfortunately it looks like weren’t going to be able to because they didn’t doubt that he would follow through with his threat. “I would really appreciate not being squished you know…” you mumbled to yourself, another terrified squeal surfacing when the bot holding you responded, back to the light blue face. “You are an interesting organic…” He mused, his spectacle eye zooming in and out on you for a minute before the black face came back up with a wicked grin that sent shivers down your spine. “Let’s play capture the human!” He shouted before transforming.

You squeezed your eyes shut and couldn’t help screaming, until you found yourself in the cockpit of the airplane you had seen before. He was seriously taking you somewhere? Great! Could this day get any worse? He took off quickly, pressing you into the seat as you crossed your arms.

Once reaching what you guess was the Decepticon base, he had you in his hand again and you were still being pouty. “Just how long do you plan to keep me for your little ‘play date’ with the Autobots?” You asked, looking up at him. You were terrified, honestly, but it’s also extremely frustrating.

The blue face watched you for a bit before switching back to black. That grin still scared you, especially now that he could do anything to you and no one would know. “I like you, you’re fun!”

Hopefully him liking you means that you’ll live a little longer...

[realm-sweet-realm]

Audrey and the Dark Revival, chapter 2: Open Loop

Audrey and the Dark Revival is intended as a sequel series for Bendy and the Ink Machine. May the actual sequel come out soon and completely blow mine out of the water.

This one is where the plot gets real.

Also, I’m using a few of @mwolf0epsilon‘s fantastic monster designs, and plan on using more of them in the future.

---

When Allison removed Audrey’s blindfold, they are on separate sides of a metal door. The door had once been for a now-defunct meat freezer in an industrial kitchen, but it was now defunct, as the lack of cold and the massive, albeit boarded-up, hole in the door told her.

“Sorry about that,” Allison said, “It’s hard to trust anyone around here. I’d normally have just kept an eye on you and let you be, but you have no idea how valuable humans are down here. I really couldn’t just let you go. If you could help us, I would owe you the world. Of course, the fact that you’re on Nathan’s side could cause some challenges... but let’s at least try to work something out.”

“Woah, wait...” Audrey said, “I’m not on Nathan’s side. I’ve been here half an hour and I already regret coming. Nathan and I aren’t on good terms... Anyhow, what I really want is information. What is this place? What are you? And why are humans so valuable?”

“For a long time, I didn’t know what this place was either. Then, a few years ago, I found an audio log from Nathan Arch explaining it. A man named Joey Drew made this place. It’s a representation of how he feels about his failures as an animation visionary- that’s what most of this place is, anyhow. He didn’t create the people. They’re people he murdered, or who got poisoned. Part of the reason this place exists is as a storage device for them. A lot of the space isn’t his creation, either. This place used to be a lot smaller, and after it had been around a few years, Joey Drew put it in a time loop. The only reason I escaped it is because the ink demon chased me into one of Nathan’s areas. The new areas- they aren’t affected by the loop!” Allison’s face brightened considerably. “For a while I thought that the spell was breaking. That it was the world opening up to us! Tom told me otherwise, but I was sure.” Allison darkened again, and Tom laid a hand over her shoulder. “Then, over time, Tom and I kept running into worse and worse monsters. The world has expanded... but it’s also gotten darker, and more crowded. So, Tom and I took to doing what we’ve always done- survive, and look for solutions. We found your father’s lair, complete with new monsters coming out of it. But no toon could ever get into it- it’s defended by ink canons made to melt any other creature of this realm who comes close. And since there were no humans around who were up for the task... since then we’ve just been surviving. Waiting on a hero. Audrey, will you help us to get your father out of here before he makes this place any more of a nightmare?”

Audrey was overwhelmed. “I- I’d love to. But I’m just a random civilian. I don’t know how to fight monsters. I don’t know the lay of the land.”

“Well, you’ll have to learn that if you want to survive here, whether you want to be a saviour or not. I can teach you to fight, and the names of monsters.” Tom whispered something in Allison’s ear. “And there is another human in this realm. If you won’t be our hero, maybe you can convince him to be. He’s proficient at combat and knows the place like the back of his hand!”

Audrey was silent for a while, weighing her options. A part of her didn’t see much other choice. While she had no reason to believe these strangers, they were clearly strong, and the world was clearly dangerous, and she wanted them on her side. And if they were telling the truth and could lead her to Nathan, all the better. “I’ll do it,” she decided.

“Excellent,” Allison beamed, smiling excitedly, and they let her out. After gearing up in the industrial kitchen that they’d made into a base (complete with cots and even a fish tank, Audrey noticed), they headed out. Allison led- she clearly knew the lay of the land. Along the way, she pointed out a number of monsters. She pulled Audrey away from a ledge, warning of the balls of wool, horns, and hooves that might ram her over the edge. From a safe distance, they witnessed a huge, quasi-canine abomination with hooks for hands dragging an exhausted, monkey-looking abomination into a puddle of ink, in which it dissolved. Allison called these creatures “rammers,” “catchers,” and “pipers” respectively. Along the way, there were also opportunities for Audrey to practice using her shock powers with Tom and Allison as back-up. She was getting quite proficient.

Finally, they arrived at what appeared to be a storage area for amusement park equipment- “Bendyland,” as Audrey learned about it from tapes. Just past a roller coaster ride was some sort of ethereal boundary. Their side of the boundary was the some dark, gloomy blue-toned white that everything in this realm had been. The other side of the boundary was somewhat better lit and sepia-toned. “That’s the area affected by the loops,” Allison explained. “And Henry- the other human- will be passing through there.”

“Great,” Audrey replied, clicking the button of a tape recorder that she’d found sitting on a workbench.

The death of the Great Bertrum Piedmont was a tragedy, truly. He was a great boss. But I’m not so sure about sticking around. Seems like there’s been an awful lot of murders among the Bendyland staff since then... and yet the rides keep gettin’ made faster than ever. It’s like they build themselves after the lights go out. I have half a mind to go pokin’ around... but I don’t have that much of a death wish.

Suddenly the roller coaster began to rattle. A piece of the tracks disconnected and swiveled towards the trio, and a duck-shaped cart hurtled towards them, sending them scattering to avoid being crushed. The duck carts- approximately a dozen of them- split off in different directions, going to various spaces in the vast, area-consuming roller coaster. Tom found a round, foundational bolt, and barked to get Allison’s attention before smashing it with his metal first. Allison turned to Audrey, who was attempting to shock a duck to little effect. “Audrey!” she shouted, “find the foundational bolts!”

“What?” Audrey yelled back, dodging out of the way of a duck.

“These!” Allison yelled, stabbing one opposite to the one Tom had destroyed. The entire section of roller coaster collapsed, falling onto another and taking it out with it like dominoes.

“Okay!” Audrey called out, before returning to the weave of dodging ducks, never staying in any one place too long, and finding foundational bots to takeout with her lightening powers. Her power’s range was very useful, but she still needed to constantly be on the move. When the carnival music finally stopped, Audrey looked around her to assure that there were no more pieces of roller coaster left to destroy. Then, she collapsed, first sitting, and then sprawling out on the floor.

Allison rushed over. “You okay?” she asked.

Audrey nodded. “Tired.” She wasn’t used to this kind of activity, but took solace in the fact that even Allison and Tom seemed pretty worn out.

“Well, you’re in luck. A break is the next thing on our to-do list.” Allison helped Audrey up, and they went over to a little selection of carnival games. “Henry will come over here. It’s a part of his loops. It could be five minutes or days. In the meantime, this room has no monsters, so we might as well relax. Wanna see if you can beat me at this shooting game?”

With that, the three of them spent the next couple hours playing games and hanging out. “Wait-” Allison said after Audrey had shared a little story, “You have memories of the outside. You can tell us about the outside!”

Audrey reached for Allison’s wrist. “Well, sure, I-”

As soon as Audrey made skin contact with Allison, Allison’s face went into blank shock. Audrey’s first instinct was to look behind her, but there was nothing there.

“Allison? Allison?”

“Give me a moment. Oh my God. I remember everything.”

“Sorry. Nathan gives me powers like this. He’s probably trying to sabotage us somehow.”

“How could this possibly be sabotage?” Allison beamed, smiling widely. “I don’t know anything about Nathan. Maybe he’s stuck and wants to escape. But this is great. You could work your magic on Henry this way! Speaking of which- over there!” Allison pointed to the entrance of Bendyland.

Through it, a man emerged. It wasn’t the hero that Allison had promised. The man looked to be in his mid-fifties, and was fairly athletic but nothing special. More notably, he was stained head to toe in ink, and had an extremely bored, weary expression on his face. He saw the trio, but ignored their presence entirely and plodded over to one of the games.

“You first, Audrey" Allison whispered, “He’ll think that we’re a hallucination, but he’s never seen you before. I guess I should tell you now, though- he’s not the man he once was. These time loops have damaged him greatly.”

Audrey headed over to him and the other two followed. Allison grabbed his arm, which Henry still didn’t react to, simply trying to play the game despite Allison hanging off of him. Audrey touched him, and he spasmed out, gasping, but afterwards went right back to his game. 

“Henry, this is not a hallucination. Come with us,” Audrey said.

“Yes you are, Allison,” Henry sighed, still looking at the game, “you aren’t from this part of the loop.”

“Henry. You’ve never seen me before,” Audrey said.

Henry turned to her. “You’re right. I haven’t seen you. Sorry, my memory’s a little... spotty, although after what you just did to me...” Henry drifted off into space. “Maybe you aren’t a hallucination. So... what do you want?”

Considering the revelation he’d just had, the man’s voice conveyed considerably little emotion. Audrey chose her next words carefully.

“Henry, we can’t get you out of the studio- not yet, anyhow. But we can get you out of this time loop if you come with us. And we need your help.”

“Henry, come with us and we’ll save Boris" Allison added, “We know a way into chamber he’s being kept in.”

Henry’s eyes immediately lit up. “I’ll come!,” he said, showing the first signs of hope and life that Audrey had seen in him. “If we can do that, then I’ll know this is real!”

[mobius-prime]

216. Sonic the Hedgehog #148

Hey, nice cover art! For those who aren't familiar, it's drawn using the same style as the art from the little-appreciated Gameboy Advance game Sonic Battle. It's always interesting when the comics imitate the art style of one of the games for a little while as a kind of lowkey advertisement.

The Good, the Bad & the Unknown (Part Three): Genesis

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jason Jensen

We open not in the underground facility where all the action is taking place, but in Knothole, as Dylan delivers a message to Sally about how the Freedom Fighters haven't been answering any communications for the past hour. Oh, hey, Dylan, long time no see! We haven't seen the members of the Substitute Freedom Fighters in a while, now that I think about it. Shame, I always liked them. Anyway, Sally is highly concerned upon hearing of the loss of contact, and orders Dylan to bring Sonic's father Jules to the court immediately. Back in the facility, Tommy rushes off to find a way to help Rotor, Bunnie, and Fiona while leaving Tails behind to man the monitor room. Tails finds Sonic on the monitors, who is currently lying winded on the ground where he fell after the floor dropped. He hears a loud rumbling, and hops up in time to dodge an incoming train car, since it turns out he landed on some tracks for an underground rail system. Shadow isn't far behind, approaching Sonic rapidly, but Sonic decides he's going to turn the tables and fight on his own terms, hopping onto one of the passing cars (which is really more like a high-tech mine cart than anything). Shadow stops, catching up to Metal Sonic and Isaac and wondering why Sonic would use the train car to travel if he can run faster than it at his highest speeds, and neither of the two robots have an explanation.

I think that's literally the first time anyone in the entirety of the comic so far has actually acknowledged out loud that Robotnik is just Kintobor backwards. I mean, it's kind of obvious if you look at the name for more than two seconds, but no one's ever actually said it. While this is going on, Tommy arrives at the corridor where the other three teammates are being electrocuted, and searches around frantically for a way to save them without getting caught in the electricity himself. After finding a random leather glove, he hits a circuit box, hoping it will help.

This is where things get a little jumbled. Tails finds Sonic on the monitors, as well as the two pursuing robots close behind him, and becomes fascinated by the conversation that Metal Sonic and Isaac get into. Their conversation continues in the background of the next several pages, so instead of trying to describe it interspersed with the rest of the action I'll just summarize it here. Isaac explains that he was created by one Dr. Ivan Kintobor, who was born in 2006 - yes, our 2006, only a few decades before the Xorda dropped the gene bombs on Earth. Ivan anticipated the Xorda's genocidal response to the capture and dissection of one of their own by the humans, so he designed Isaac to be able to function in a post-apocalyptic environment before sealing himself away in a stasis pod. Isaac bore firsthand witness to the results of the gene bombs, which, contrary to their intention to kill all humans without disturbing the planet's ecosystems, threw tons of volcanic ash and dust into the atmosphere, transforming the planet's surface forever. As mentioned before, this was the first "Day of Fury" recorded by the echidnas, and over the next thousand years, humans devolved into the Overlanders we know today (though how losing one finger and nothing else counts as "devolving" I have no clue), while their residual DNA mixed with that of various ordinary animals, who consequently had their own evolution accelerated into Mobiankind. When Ivan, from his pod, learned that societies were emerging from the newly-created Mobian species, he ordered Isaac to chronicle important historical events of the planet in addition to scientific data. Not long after the sun finally burned through the rest of the ash and dust in the air, the energy from the gene bombs, having finally absorbed deep into the planet's crust, reacted with beryl deposits to create… the Chaos Emeralds! Yes, interestingly enough, this is the backstory of the Chaos Emeralds in the comics. But wait, remember how Sonic encountered red Chaos Emeralds on another planet during Tossed in Space? All I can imagine from that is that Earth must not have been the first planet the Xorda used their gene bombs on - it makes sense, as the other species of the galaxy are clearly terrified of them for some reason - and thus, there are slightly different versions of Chaos Emeralds on other planets that the Xorda have targeted before.

Anyway, Isaac explains all this to Metal Sonic as Sonic continues to ride his train car to get away from Shadow and the two robots. He tries to contact Tails for help, but Tails is caught up in listening to the impromptu history lesson over the monitors, and thus Sonic is attacked from behind by Shadow. He manages to throw him off by abruptly stopping his car, and abandons the vehicle while Shadow is still stunned from the impact to run down another side corridor, shutting the door behind him. Rotor, also listening to the audio feed as he, Bunnie and Fiona race to meet up, asks Tails if he's recording this, but Tails doesn't have time to figure out if he can download a recording form the computers' systems, as Shadow is quickly approaching Sonic's hiding place.

The three finally meet up, and Shadow directs them to the door Sonic has taken refuge behind, trying to deadlift it open. Isaac says frankly that if Sonic has gone in that particular room, he's dead, but Shadow replies that Sonic tends not to die even in the face of otherwise-mortal danger, lifting the door and calling in that he just wants to talk. Wait, what? Shadow, this entire time you've been beating on Sonic for no good reason, and now you want to try to talk things out? Sonic is clearly as skeptical as I am, immediately darting out to hit Shadow in the face once his hiding place is discovered, but at that moment everyone is distracted by an ominous new sight - the room Sonic was hiding in is in fact a gigantic launch base for a missile, whose thrusters have just fired… Wait, now I'm even more confused! How the hell did Sonic hide in that room for a good minute without somehow noticing the huge flaming missile behind him?! Ah, whatever, this is Penders, we already know his stories don't make much sense.

Playing Around

Writer/Pencils: Nelson Ribeiro Colors: Jason Jensen

Time for some more silly stuff! Apparently, the Freedom Fighters (along with a few other of their allies) have decided to put on a play for some of the younger children of Knothole, about one of their missions against Eggman. Sally isn't in the play, leading Rosie to question who will be playing her if not, well, her, but Sally just giggles and tells her to wait and see as Sonic and Tails come out to welcome the kids to their play. Before Sonic can even get his final words out a spiked mitt emerges from behind the curtain to drag him backstage, and we see none other than Knuckles in an auburn wig and blue vest and boots, furiously reminding Sonic that the only reason he's doing this is for the kids, and otherwise he would be clobbering Sonic into the ground right now for even suggesting this crazy scheme. Oh, boy, this should be good…

So, who exactly is playing who in this production? It opens with Knuckles-Sally in "her" room in Knothole, when Geoffrey, played by Bunnie, arrives to warn of an impending attack on the castle. Knuckles-Sally, barely able to contain his disdain for this whole affair, uses Nicole, played by Archimedes, to call Uncle Chuck for help, but just then, Eggman, played by Big the Cat, and Snively, played by Tails, burst in and capture the two to roboticize them. Wait, if Tails is playing Snively, then who is playing Tails? Why, Rotor of course, being laboriously held aloft by ropes controlled by Jules, Mighty, and Espio from the rafters. He and Sonic (played by, well, Sonic - guess we know who got the most preferential treatment during casting) are relaxing in Knothole when Uncle Chuck, also played by himself but sporting various kitchenware all over his body to suggest a roboticized form, rushes in to warn them of Knuckles-Sally's capture. Rotor-Tails flies Sonic to Robotropolis, where the two prepare to attack Eggman, Snively, and a shadow-bot played by Vector. Also, we get some convenient sound effects, courtesy of Amy Rose!

With Knuckles-Sally rescued, Sonic embraces "her" and goes in for a kiss, and well, let's just say he's really in the spirit of the role, with Knuckles having to warn him away from actually kissing him through clenched teeth, that is unless he's ready to redeem that promise of a clobbering. Oh, come on Knuckles, we all remember how you said quite a few issues ago how you didn't want to have to deal with girls and would rather only hang around boys - accept your gay side, my dude! Smooch that 'hog!

Destiny's Child

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Tim Smith 3 Colors: Jason Jensen

Tim Smith… 3? I'm so confused by this name. Do they perhaps mean Tim Smith III, as in, he's the third person in his family named Tim Smith? Or is there just a hidden cloning facility in the back of the Archie Comics headquarters that occasionally churns out extra Tim Smiths to draw for random issues of their comics?

Tails is hanging out alone by a pond at the outskirts of Knothole Village one afternoon, and it turns out that though he's kept quiet about it, he's extremely frustrated at the knowledge that even though his parents are alive somewhere on the other side of the galaxy, no one seems to be rushing to actually go and rescue them. Suddenly, Athair's disembodied head appears floating in front of him, speaking cryptically about how the hour of the Chosen One draws near or whatever. Tails isn't impressed, and confronts him about the whole Chosen One thing, that by now multiple different people have talked to him about it and he was even kidnapped and held hostage for months by Mammoth Mogul over it, yet no one will actually tell him what this supposed prophecy even refers to. He asks if everyone knows about this but him, and honestly, I don't blame him one bit for being upset - not even us readers know what the hell the prophecy is all about, and we're normally given behind the scenes info like, all the time!

Oh, about time someone informs Tails that he has other family still left on the planet! Seriously, this kid has believed he was an orphan all his life, and yet Merlin never thought to, you know, contact him and reassure him he still had an uncle? Athair recounts the exact hostage situation with Mogul from before, how it occurred when Tails was in transit to help Knuckles back then, and Tails waves him off, saying that Sonic already told him everything that happened while he was captured. He demands an explanation, but Athair simply fades from view, leaving him frustrated and alone by the water once more. However, Athair's voice echoes back to him after a moment, urging him to be patient, as soon he'll finally know what all this is about… and about time, too, this has been going on since literally the first era of the comic with no resolution in sight.

[tfwhynoy]

If you're still down for soulmate stuff, what about matching tattoos with Minimus Ambus since the armour wouldn't have any mark.

God, imagine after more than 20 years of no marks the human just goes nuts with tattoos. They don’t have a soulmate so who cares, it's just their body now. Hehehehe 

Everyone got something tattooed right after birth. Typically, a small spot or another simple shape somewhere it wouldn’t be seen most of the time. All up to the parents choice, including color too. It was just so if you would have something to see who your soulmate was even as a toddler.

Some kids were born with them as a result. Little shapes on their thighs or back. It was a sign of good luck, to know so early your little baby has someone so early.

You only had one though. Your own little black spot on your hip about the size of your thumb. No new shapes appeared. It was rare but you accepted at around twenty you just didn't have a soulmate.

In a way, it was freeing. You could get any tattoo because it was your body and yours alone. You weren't stuck waiting for some magical person to just come along and complete you anymore. It wasn't lonely as so many assumed, you still had your friends and family after all.

At twenty-five, you began getting all the tattoos you wanted. You thought each one through, they would be permanent, soulmate or not. You loved the way the ink looked in your skin. Each new image larger and more intricate than the last. 

Even as people told you to think of how you would look when you get older you still went ahead. Your body is a temple after all and what temple didn't have some art on its walls.

Ironically, as the most tattooed person, you know you also have the most serious job of your friends. When you were on Earth it was just monitoring and ensuring that cybertronian got along with the general population. 

Since you didn't have a soulmate though, when Megatron was placed on the Lost Light you were the first choice to be sent to watch over him.

As Liaison, you made sure to wear your usual business attire, long sleeves and pants to cover all of your tattoos. A few bots had seen them when you were off the clock but most didn't know of them.

At the end of the adventure, Rodimus did the universe jump without talking to the whole crew. As most celebrated being in an alternate universe, you were simply smacked in the face with the thought you’d never be able to go back to Earth. At least not your Earth. It was shocking and you likely would never quite be over it but there was only so long you could be angry.

You weren't liaison anymore though. Yes, a few still referred to you as the ship’s liaison but it was in name only. Who would you be reporting Megatron’s actions to?

Slowly you let go of the uniform and started to spend time away from your usual job and when you did it was purely out of habit. You were back to wearing mostly tank tops to show off your tattoos again. It just felt right to be back like this.

You weren’t the only one to drop some of the set in formalities either. Magnus was the most noticeable apparently although you hadn’t seen him. Without needing to report back to Cybertron he’s been spending his time editing the Autobot code of rules and regulations that you just wouldn’t be able to do. You can’t really send taxes back to somewhere that doesn’t exist after all.

What you hadn’t expected the immediate side stares and whispers in Swerve’s. Did you have something offensive to cybertronians somewhere on you?

It didn’t take long for you to find out. Rodimus had frozen when he first saw you. A large smile spreading across his face.

“What?” You damn near scowled up at him.

“You haven’t seen Minimus Ambus have you?” 

“No. Haven’t heard of him.” Rodimus was smiling even more now and leaned in slightly like he was going to tell you a secret.

“You heard how Magnus gave up his suit right? Well With the Magnus suit having a whole legacy behind it he wasn’t always Magnus. His real name is Minimus Ambus and he goes by that when he’s out of the suit. Now the last time he had gone out of it and was in his irreducible form he had been shocked when a lot of decals he couldn’t get rid of was all over him. Now looking at you…”

You looked at you arms with wide eyes. Magnus has all this all over him now? He’s you soul mate? 

Rodimus gave a small chuckle. “You should probably go speak with Minimus now. You are sparkmates after all.” 

“Not right now Roddy. I need a day or two considering I didn’t think I had a soulmate and have to do my best to come to terms that now Magnus, or Minus whatever, has all this permanently on his body…”

It took three days for you to gather the courage to talk to him. Even still when you knocked on his office door you had to fight the urge to run.

“Come in” The voice that spoke out as the door opened was alien to you. Higher pitched a bit faster than the Magnus you were used to.

Looking in his office you could see that the desk was replaced with a smaller one. The plaque reading a neat “Minimus Ambus”. The bot behind the desk was one you hadn’t seen before, mostly white with green and black details. Even still the tattoos that covered chest and arms caught your eyes immediately. Exact copies of the ones you had.

You tried to say something as he turned to you from the task he was doing but it seemed that both of you were quite in shock.

[prettywordsyouleft]

Becoming Human - Chapter 9

Previous Chapters:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 

“So far he seems to be progressing well, all levels of his intelligence have improved from last time he sat in this chair.” Doctor Jung spun around on his seat and smiled at me. “How have you found him?”

I glanced at Leo, offline for the very first time in front of me. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful in his resting state. I smiled. “It’s been an adjustment from just interacting at work with a robot. I admit my original stance has changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never understood the need for them. My background in psychology found some people who used them generally sounded like they could do with some psycho-therapy treatment for their social anxiety issues. I feel like my opinion is changing. Leo has made me question a lot about my own way of existing in the past three days.”

The doctor chuckled and took off his glasses. “Miss Choi, you mentioned to me about my thesis the other day and how this is a waste of my talent. This lab is creating miracles every day. Psychologists sit in an office and give an hour a week to their clients to help them. My bots can be in your home and be a listening ear. They won’t judge you for your faults but find ways to build you back up. Isn’t that a blessing?”

“Leo isn’t like that. He has opinions. He has experienced multiple emotions already. I feel like he could help people further. In a way, the current AI program is giving false confidence. Yes it works and I believe there is a place for it, but humans won’t build you up the same and can bring all that falsity right back down on the customer in one blow. I’m not saying everything about Leo’s mannerisms is desirable, but I’m learning a lot from him in how he views the human race. We are crueller than I imagined.”

“Do you worry about your own blurring of lines around Leo? You have stated in your files before that is your biggest concern of customers. Can you feel that?”

I didn’t respond immediately, my mind thinking over the small instances we’ve had. Even earlier this morning our fight had felt organic and I hadn’t even felt there was a difference in us. Human and robot weren’t a factor, even though I had used it as his weakness, on a whole, I had viewed him as just Leo during that moment. Biting my lip, I looked up at the man and finally sighed. “I’m unsure if I will fully blur lines but sometimes he does seem more human than he should.”

“In three days you’ve managed that conclusion. It will be interesting to see the version of yourself in a month’s time. Gunhee will keep me updated with your progress, but let’s meet up for another session of looking into his functions within a week’s time.”

I nodded and got to my feet, watching as the doctor pressed a few buttons on the screen that allowed the lines that were hooked to Leo’s neck to wake him back up. His eyes slowly opened and he looked around the room, his focus finally landing on me. He smiled warmly and I couldn’t help but feel at ease to see him alert again.

 “Did you rest well, Leo?” Doctor Jung removed the cables and the robot glanced at him, nodding once. “Good. We need to let Miss Choi go to work now. You can come and watch how we do things in the lab if you like.”

“Really?!” He got off the chair and straightened himself up, waiting beside the doctor eagerly. “I can really have a place here?”

“I need to watch you in action too, come on.”

“One moment, doctor.” Leo then grabbed my arm and took me out of the room, leading me down the hallway before stopping. He smiled again at me and reached to muss my hair a little, my hand instantly moving to smack it away.

“What are you doing?!”

He leaned down into my face a little, still smiling giddily. “It’s my first day having a job; I feel very happy right now. And I get to do what I wanted to the last time you left me in that room to go back to work.”

“And what’s that?”

“Have a good day,” he said, placing his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll see you later.”

And with that, he went back to the Doctor’s office. I, however, was reeling from the interaction, my heart beating faster the more I repeated the sentence internally. I’ll see you later.

It felt odd to have someone out there waiting to see me again in their day. I found there was a bounce in my step as I made my way back to my department, smiling and greeting my co-workers happily. Even Daniel waved at my arrival and I grinned brightly back at him, before sitting down at my desk.

“Something good happened to you,” Sohyun stated, leaning around to observe me more closely. She gasped and grabbed onto my arm. “You have a boyfriend?!”

“Yah!” I hissed and shook my head rapidly. “You know that’s so not the case.”

“You look like you’re in love though. Like you have someone who waits for you.”

I froze at her choice of wording and then shook my head and hands at the same time. “Honestly, your imagination.”

“Right, you claim dating is for those who have too much time on their hands.” Sohyun tilted her head to the side and then laughed. “Maybe you should be forced into a situation where you have to interact with another guy. You might find yourself falling for him way too quickly because you’ve lacked dating experience.”

“Let’s work, yeah?” I told her, feeling a little haunted at how her words were lining up. Thankfully, once switching on my headset the first call was connected. I noticed the caller was calling from overseas and made effort to answer in English. “Welcome to KBoys Cyborg Call Centre, you’re speaking with Yerin, how may I help you today?”

“Hi Yerin, it’s Kate Sheparton here, how are you?”

Looking at the screen, I realised it was one of our top weekly callers and composed myself for what her predicament was today. She was sweet in nature but rang way too many times. Mostly for unnecessary things, like how to train her Junhoe to cook more authentic meals or how to stop him from looking in the mirrors more often than she did. I cleared my throat and smiled. “I’m fine, thank you, how can I assist you?”

“I’d like to trade in my Junhoe, please. He’s just a complete nightmare. I’ve had enough of his behaviours and need a new idol that can suit me better instead.”

I was shocked, just last week she was gushing to me about how she would marry him if it were legal to do so. “Are you sure that is something you’d like to proceed with? Once it’s done, we won’t be able to fully return him in the future if you change your mind again.”

“I’m certain, today was the last straw. I asked him who was more beautiful and he answered himself. Without even hesitating! I cannot be with someone so condescending anymore. So can I purchase a face-up please?”

“Certainly, who would you like to swap to?” I went through to the face-up request aspect in her file and waited for her selection.

“It’s an easy choice and someone who I feel is more mature completely. Johnny Seo from NCT, please.”

I paused, remembering crossing TV channels once and finding the idol in question doing bird impressions on Weekly Idol. Trying not to laugh, I clicked into the idol she requested and started the process. After explaining to her what to expect next, I finished the call and then thought over my reaction towards the girl.

I was starting to feel uncomfortable in who I was, realising how judgmental I could be towards some of the things I thought of customers. Although I was nothing but professional on the phone, it had never bothered me beforehand on how I would view some people. Vowing to be more productive and less opinionated for the rest of the day, I picked up the next call, hoping my work day would finish on a better note than I had started it. 

Next chapter

A/N: Is that... expectation building in Yerin?! Doctor Jung is right, look at how many changes have occurred in three days. Who knows what else might change?

Next chapter will be posted Monday 3rd (NZST)!

Want to be added to the notified list? Leave a comment or reblog letting me know that you wish to get tagged in the upcoming chapters! Thanks everyone for the continued support!

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Becoming Human Masterlist | Fiction Masterlist | Request Guidelines

[the-energon-hole]

Nsfw Tfp Optimus, megatron and poly breakdown/knockout reaction to seeing their human naked but human is embarrassed and hiding their face due to so many scars they have in their body

((A/N - Nudity is not inherently NSFW my friend, uhm, also this might seem a bit selfish but I took “scars” and replaced it with “fat” because I am writing this in the sense that I know what it is like to be humiliated because you are fat and unattractive- I don’t know what it is like to be seen as unattractive because of scars.

I mean I can assume it’s the same feeling, but assuming things makes an ass out of you and me as they say, so if you don’t like this feel free to let me know and I will tweak it to fit your narrative better and not mine.))

Optimus Prime

-The two of you were similar in many ways, which was most likely one of the reasons why he felt as if you were the missing piece to his whole spark, and he sometimes liked to stop and think about all of the good similarities you two shared whenever he was feeling doubtful. You were both so wise in the sense you had life experiences others had not thought about having and you both had become apart of something bigger than yourselves which in turn caused you both to have people come to you for advice on just about anything and everything, you both were thrusted into leadership roles due to that wisdom and experience you had come to possess even if it was not the role you wished to play at the current time, and you both had an immense love for your people and species as a whole which sparked all kinds of interesting conversations that he loved to hear you speak great things about humanity and what they have to offer. However with the good similarities that were shared between the two fo you there were the bad ones that he had to acknowledge about you two as well- you were both so good at bottling things up inside and burying them deep inside until those feelings become to full and swell up into a manifestation that takes on the form of an emotional breakdown that you cannot allow others around you to see as it was very hard to witness a leader fall over and cry in anguish. He had anxieties about failing his people and his species when it came to his duties and his role as the Prime, you had anxieties based on your outward appearance and presentation to those around you who have a tendency to not take you as seriously as the situation would call for. He has noticed a lot of humans have a lot of opinions about who you are and how you behave just based on how you looked on the outside- you told him once that it is because you are a bigger person and people tended to assume you were just very lazy and very rude- just someone who constantly ate and ate and selfishly consumed resources more than what you really needed. He did not understand that bias against you from other humans, as Cybertronians came in all kinds of shapes and sizes and it wasn’t something that their species was concerned about- so it was a little hard for him to sympathize with how you say you were being treated. It is not that he didn’t believe you, he can see how upset you get when someone assumes something about you when they don’t even bother to know you, it was just a strange thing for humans to discriminate against. To be fair, Cybertronians kind of did the same thing, but bigger bots were made to do bigger labor jobs and weren’t told they needed to change in order to fit some kind of made up standard of beauty the marketing industry is pushing to sell more cosmetic items.

-You were probably as comfortable as anyone can get around their partner when you actually thought about it, as you probably could not ask for anyone better for you than that big boss bot who tried his best to make you feel like a queen. He was also so kind and patient with you whenever you expressed any kinds of doubts or disbelieves to him that it almost made you cry a few times how he was so willing to listen to what you had to say when others just wanted nothing more than to see you burn for who you were. Human bodies and biology were very complicated issues, and you have admitted to him that you have done everything from extreme dieting to not eating at all while nearly harming yourself permanently in that process from all of the physical activity you put your body through just to make you feel as if you can belong with all of the other beautiful people out there. Nothing ever seemed to work for you, so the only other logical thing to do was to just accept who you were as a whole which included the outside bits as well, and you are trying every day to just love and accept yourself for who you are and what you looked like- but it was harder than it looked whenever you can barely even stand to look at yourself in the mirror in the mornings. You ended up crying in front of Optimus because those feelings about who you are on the outside began to surface from the area you liked to bury so deep inside you were finally ready to burst- the thing that ended up pushing you over the edge, it was a woman at the supermarket that came up to you and angrily told you to get bigger clothing because your shirt rode up a little as you reached to get something off of a high shelf. It was degrading and embarrassing the way her tone had such an angry bite to it as other people stopped to look you up and down to make their own determination and judgments. You couldn’t get out of that store fast enough as you basically ran home and just threw on your biggest sweatshirt and baggiest jeans and sat on your couch trying really hard not to let that old crone words get to you. They got to you though, they got to you hard, as this was something that always happened to you whenever you just tried to normal things like go shopping for groceries- it was why you never bothered to dress up or to try when it came to your appearance, what was the point when it felt like no matter what you did someone always had something to say. This was why when in an intimate moment of Optimus just holding you as you cried, he asked to see you in your bare form so that he may see witness what it was that all these humans fuzzed over. It was such a blunt yet innocent request that you almost balked at the idea of the Priem seeing you as who you really were when you were not trying to hide behind clothing and beauty products. You panicked a little and told him no at first- you were afraid he was going to reject you, that he would find you repulsive and throw you away as so many before him have done when you all but essentially bare your soul to them as you would exposed yourself to him physically. He insisted wholly that he wanted to see you as you are while stroking your hair and telling you that nothing can change how he felt about you- that your physical appearance is apart of who you are and that you shouldn’t be afraid to show him all of yourself. He had a point to that argument, you can’t just keep hiding under large clothing in order to feel like you have a fake sense of power- you need to own up to who you are, so as you stood before him without anything to cover yourself, the stretch marks and the cellulite in all its glory you felt a feeling you never had before as Optimus went in to touch your face with a gentle caress. Was this confidence? Whatever it was you knew he was serious when he said he would love you in all of your entirety, fat or not, and you cried tears of joy as you leaned into his touch- he really was the other half to your missing piece.

Megatron

-It was something that the war lord picked was able to pick up on about you very quickly, as he would always watch you react time so harshly time and again with this very passionate anger whenever some bot like Starscream threw crude comments your way poking fun at your outward appearance. He noticed the raw anger and emotions in your voice as it cracked a little while you screamed at the offending bots for implying you were “more squishy than the normal human he has seen”, you went ballistic in calling him all kinds of bad names that it almost made him laugh because you were just so snarky, had it not been for the fact he can see you were fighting back some real tears and some real truma. It was a sensitive topic to you for some reason, he learned about it more once he finally got you to spill your guts to him when he began to ask really personal questions you weren’t expecting him to care about. Megatron was always an enigma when it came to personal subjects that he cared to know about you- sometimes he wanted to know everything and sometime he wanted to know nothing, as he would chalk up some of your reasons to behaving strangely to “humans and their awkward societal views”. It turns out humans are more strange than he anticipate, as apparently you were judged a lot for doing just random things around your home city simply because you were a little rounder than the average human, which he never saw as a problem because really why would that mean anything? You told him a lot of people in your society had this weird sense of superiority and pretentiousness and that “thin privilege” was a very real thing, as you were always forced to buy extra plane tickets even though you never once spilled over the sides realistically as people just hated flying next to “sweaty and heavy breathing” people, and how every single medical doctor you have ever had has warned you every single tim eyou would com in even if it was just for some minor medication that conditions “brought on by fatty and sugary foods” can kill you faster than some forms of sickness- and it just drove you nuts to the point where you will just lash out at anyone who tries to point anything out anything about you bigger body. It was one of the things he was attracted to you for, you were so fierce and unafraid to call people out on their stupid bullshit, even if it did seem they had some kind of advantage over you be it power or grace- you didn’t take any shit from anyone, and that power was kind of intoxicating for him to see whenever you decided to just all your emotions loose. If this weren’t a serious situation he would have joked about how you should just destroy them because they were obviously too ignorant to know what real beauty looked like.

-He knew he was poking a proverbial bear when he decided this was his best course of action, he knew he was rattling your cage to the point where you were going to do something so drastic that you would end up in tears after, but it was worth it to him if he can  finally get you to talk about what was bothering you. He wasn’t a patient mech, and getting to the point was something he felt like he needed to do, since this timidness was not you and you needed to work through whatever anxiety this was going through plaguing your mind so you can be much more sharp and ready to deal with whatever situation should arise in this war. Your stubbornness will be your downfall one day as this little intervention was taking longer than he anticipated to get you to your breaking point, but, if this is what needs to be done so that you can clear your mind and as a result become closer to him, than well that was perfectly fine with him as he prefers you when you are at your best anyway. You were screaming up at him while you were nearly in tears as he said so many cruel things about your experiences being unbelievable- “I think you are exaggerating, no one with a brain would do those things to someone” and “It cannot be that bad- maybe you are just being overly sensitive”. It elicited some kind of raw anger that he was hoping to see you portray in a weird way, but it was a big surprise to see you become so angry over him just invalidating your experiences as he will have to remember not to ever do that to you under a serious circumstance, you began to throw your clothes off angrily while screaming about proving him wrong as you held your arms out as if to prove that what you were saying was true and real. You stood are in front of him as a way to challenge his doubts of your stories, and as you let it sink in that he can see everything from your stretch marks to your rolls, you suddenly became shy as a school child and all that anger you had just melted away. You tried to cover yourself as the tears began to fall as you felt so much sahem for showing so much weakness to Megatron like this, he must think you are a foolish weakling best left for dead which caused you to begin shaking a little-what a jerk Megtron was! He planned this! He wanted to humiliate you so he can get on some kind of power trip about how superior and good looking he was compared to you- just like those who think it’s funny to throw things at you on the street for just doing nothing more than just walking home while screaming “Hey, cheeseburger I think you need to go jogging in stead”! His reaction to your shift in emotion was surprising though, and as he moved your arms slowly away from your body, you can swear you were waiting for some kind of pain of him just mushing you between his claws. Instead however, you got something akin to sweet kindness- Megatron just poked curiously a little at your soft bits around your tummy, you giggled as you were very ticklish and couldn’t help but smiling sadly the quizzical look the war lord was giving to you. He told you that there was nothing wrong with you, that as far as he as concerned, you were the most beautiful little beacon of light in this universe that he would be willing to chase after until he turned into nothing but space rust. Wow, he really was romantic, and you sniffed a little as you continued to smile brightly up at him, you had to tell him that you were actually getting really cold and should probably put something on so you don’t freeze to death.

Knockout/Breakdown

-Knockout was attracted to all things beautiful! He had an eye for things that were glittery and bright, but another hidden talent he had was for finding those proverbial diamonds in the rough, and he knew that those that had the ability to hide their beauty from the public were absolutely the best gems to polish and shine so that they can rule the world as the killer beings they were destined to become! He thought Breakdown was the most handsome bot he had ever seen, with such a killer personality and an amazing ability to quip back and forth with even the most silver glossa’d bot, that he was shocked others did not share his potential- it was fine though, that just meant he could have his dear Breakdown all to himself and that the world didn’t deserve to witness his real beauty. You- oh, he felt the same way about you when he first laid his sinister little optics on you, he noticed how you can seemingly navigate the human world without turning heads all that much due to your appearance being quite frankly a little bland, but he could see it right away that you had the same gleam and glimmer that Breakdown did. He is going to put you on display for all to see, or well for at least hims and Breakdown to fawn over, but first you were going to have to come out of your shell to do that and he knew just how to make you break free from that safe space you call a shell. Breakdown didn’t understand why Knockout tried so hard to change your outer appearance like he tried so hard to do with him when they first met, but he wasn’t one to question Knockout’s intentions as closely as he does to other bots, and his wily ways of wanting to bring the beauty out in everyone was actually kind of cute. Breakdown didn’t mind so much all the aesthetic changes Knockout made him to do his frame all the time, but he knew you were a little more sensitive to changing how you looked on the outside, so he tried to be that buffer between you and Knockout whenever you got overwhelmed by all of the ranting and ravings. Breakdown knows Knockout can be a little eccentric at times, which is hwy over the bond he constantly has to remind him that you were of the more sensitive variety, and that he needs to speak in softer tones and with less harsh demands. More than that though, how the heck did Knockout even know where to get some of those fancy looking clothes he gives you whenever you show up on the ship each week after you have had your fill of the human world. They might share a spark, but Knockout was still an enigma to him with those little secret things he does, he personally thinks it’s cute and quirky when he gets all insistent you would look good in this new sparkly thing he “found” for you- and he knew you kind of appreciated it when the doc would dote on you most of the time, but when it came to specifics like clothing and hairstyles well you kind of clammed up and never really explained why. It was kind of frustrating to Breakdown, as he was so used to the open honesty one gets when you bond with another Cybertronian- because it was actually almost impossible to keep hidden emotions away from someone who could literally tell what you were thinking without having to say it, but he wasn’t so good with words and he didn’t know how to ask you. He would have asked Knockout to, but then he was afraid that you might think they were ganging up on you to try and  pressure you to tell them something you aren’t ready to talk about yet. He loved you to death, but for the love of Primus, if there was only one thing he can change about you it would have to be the fact that you were born a  human and not a Cybertronian.

-Breakdown had no idea this was coming, and he regrets not being able to read the warning signs ahead of this situation, but this is what it he was talking about when he says he feels frustrated that can’t tell what it was that you were really thinking. Knockout must have crossed some line that he couldn’t tell was there, because one minute you both were fine and happy just talking about different things, and the next you were hunched over holding your face in shame as he could hear your muffled sobbing a little through you hands. Oh he could feel the guilt running through their bond as Knockout turned to him while cutting his hands to his chest while giving him that quizzical look to see if he would know what was going on with you today, or maybe you told him something you didn’t tell him- which was fine, but it would have been nice to get a heads up if there was something he shouldn’t talk about in front of you. Breakdown just shrugged to indicate he had no idea what was going on, and as he felt Knockout pull desperately at their bond for some kind of answer to make this situation an better, he felt himself sigh audibly as he rubbed the back of his neck in an awkward motion. In the end when Breakdown wasn’t able to give any kind of indication as to what he knew what was wrong, which was honestly no surprise to Knockout as he took it upon himself to regain his composure as fast as possible in order to put on that suave mask he does whenever he gets nervous. He took his clawed hand and ran it through your hair in that soothing way that they both knew for sure you liked, you calmed down a little from quiet sobbing to no noise at all and it seemed you were brought out of whatever stupor you were in, but when you looked up at them with a sticky glistening face of dried out tears it hit both of them right in the spark. You looked down and rubbed your arms a little while you sniffed and tried to compose yourself from your accidental and rather breakdown- you can see it in thehri faceplate that they have no idea what is going on with you, and you can’t really blame them as sometimes you can’t control the things that trigger those awful memories. It wasn’t something you were comfortable talking about, and it wasn’t something you liked to share out loud and relive as you would have to walk them through whatever it was that traumatised you, but they deserve an explanation because they were so kind to you al the time and they did not mean to do anything wrong. You admitted that sometimes it was hard to see that”beauty” Knockout claims to see in you that he likes to boast about being there, that for so long so many have called you out for being this ugly troll that so many thought you to be, that it was almost impossible not to believe them after so many would corroborate that testimony. It took you by surprise when Breakdown just yanked your shirt over your head as you gasped loudly while trying to grab back at it out of his grasp. It was to late and you felt so bare and cold that you instinctively covered yourself while asking him why he would do something so cruel. He waited for a moment before he responded with “I don’t know what you mean, but I don’t see anything other than beauty here” and you looked up at him with your mouth gaping open like a fish because when the heck did Breakdown become able to throw such a romantic one liner like that at you, to which Knockout took his claw and closed your mouth gently while saying “more beautiful if you stopped gaping at us like that, my dear”. You laughed at that, you should have known that they wouldn’t see your body the way you see your body, and that made you kind of grateful that they had such a different world view. No human might find you attractive, but here you are almost naked in front of two alien robots who would tell you everyday that you are pretty before they let you forget it. It was nice, and a good reminder that you are indeed worthy of their affection and love, no matter how ugly you perceive yourself to be.

(05/20/18)