#I'm thinking we're getting young!prowl

[transingthoseformers]

You know, considering the HEAVY IDW influences in earthspark and the recent leak I've received, I'm getting the feeling that earthspark Prowl will be. Quite the trip.

[yes-i-write-fanfiction]

A drabble of Tfp Prime switching place with his Tfa counterpart over a bridge mishap?

Optimus had experienced his fair share of odd situations throughout his life. That was only natural when you were the leader of the autobots and had lived as long as he had. He had battled space monsters, shapeshifters, old gods, undead.

But he had to admit that interdimensional travel was a first for him.

At least he could feel at ease knowing that he had landed among friends, even if they were a tad different from the versions he knew.

"You're so tall!" the human girl, Sari, exclaimed with awe, eyes shining as she craned her neck to look at him. With her pigtails and excited personality she reminded Optimus a lot of Miko.

The Bumblebee of this dimension did not appear as impressed. He crossed his arms with a humpf and glared at Optimus with critical optics. "Well, he's probably super slow, slower than a snail!"

"I bet he's super strong too..." Other Bulkhead murmured, decidedly more impressed. He stared at Optimus' arms dreamily.

"He's got a strong spiritual presence, that's for sure," the two-wheeler designated Prowl commented. His optics focused on Optimus chestplates, leaning in closer. "And there's something else. It almost feels like-"

"Would people get out of my medbay!?" Ratchet, who appeared to be just as high strung as the one in his own dimension, interrupted. He waved around a datapad like Wheeljack with one of his swords. "We don't know what kind of viruses his world have and if we're susceptible to them! We could have a potential pandemic on our servos!"

"Viruses!?" Bumblebee stomped his pede and pointed an accusing digit at Optimus. "You guys see? This bot is nothing but trouble! I say we send him back to wherever he came from as soon as possible and get our own Optimus back!"

Bulkhead piped up. "That might be more difficult than you think, Bumblebee. You see, he portal that brought him here was due to a space bridge malfunction that quite frankly had a one in 3 billion chance of happening and even if we were to find a way to replicate this we'd also have to find a way to get his dimension do the same thing on their end."

Optimus cocked his head, intrigued. "Do you know a lot about space bridge technology, Bulkhead?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess I know some things," he responded, meekly. He fidgeted with his servos, not quite daring to look Optimus in the optics.

Ratchet interjected. "Don't sell yourself short now," he chided, giving Bulkhead a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Bulkhead here is the foremost expert of space bridge technology. Ain't no bot that knows more about the stuff than he does."

Hearing this, Optimus smiled. "That's incredible! While the Bulkhead I know is a brilliant mech in his own right he does not possess such expertise in space bridges. How brilliant!"

At this, Bulkhead finally managed to meet Optimus' optics. There was a faint blush on his faceplates. "Really? I'm not really all that- Uh, I mean, what's your Bulkhead like?"

Optimus' smile grew fonder. "He's one of the bravest mechs I've ever had the honor of knowing. The only thing that can compare to his immense strength is his kindness." Gazing down at the young bot in front of him, he placed his servo on the his shoulder. "The two of you are appear very much alike, in that regard."

Bulkhead's blush grew in intensity, his optics becoming round like saucers, flickering from Optimus' face to where his servo was on his shoulder back to his face. "Oh geez, I don't know what to, oh stars-"

"What about Bumblebee?" Sari suddenly asked, clambering on top of some barrels to be seen. "When you first appeared you said you had a Bumblebee in your universe as well, right?"

Bumblebee, this universe's version, crossed his arms again. "Whatever kind of person he is, he can't be faster, or more handsome, than me!" He paused. "But yeah, what about him?"

Optimus laughed. "There's no way I can praise him enough. Bumblebee is a true hero, through and through, and he's saved my life more times than I can count."

At this, Bumblebee visibly preened. "Oh yeah? Sounds kinda like me then. You know, I've also saved our Optimus' life a couple of times already." He jabbed a thumb at his chest. "Some call me a hero too."

"I don't doubt it," Optimus replied and somehow Bumblebee managed to puff out his chest even more.

"Yeah, well, why don't you tell me some more about my other dimensional counterpart and my- I mean his, heroic deeds? Just so we can compare notes."

Ratched sighed loudly and dragged a palm down his face. "Great, just what we need, Bumblebee getting yet another ego boost."

Prowl leaned in closer to the medic. "At least he's not openly hostile towards our visitor anymore." The corner of his mouth twitched. "He got so mad when this Optimus asked him if he wasn't too young to be an autobot when they first met."

Ratchet couldn't help but snort. "That alone made all of this worth it. Sigh, I just hope our Optimus is alright."

---------In another dimension---------

"What do you mean I'm the leader of the autobots? Ultra Magnus is right there! What even is a Matrix? WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M THE CHOSEN OF GOD?????"

[spunsugarmusings]

Young Frankenstein: The Musical Starter Sentences

Starters from the Mel Brookes' hit musical Young Frankenstein. Change pronouns and tenses as necessary, and enjoy!

"What happened in that castle made our lives a living Hell!"

"We're the happiest town in town!"

"Hold the happiness!"

"Please, do I look like the kind of madman who'd prowl around graveyards, digging up freshly buried corpses?"

"I don't indulge in hijinks or tomfoolery!"

"I live for truth and reason, that's the reason I exist!"

"Hearts and lungs are simply tinker toys when stacked against the brain!"

"His reflexes have no freedom to react when I mistreat him."

"Those naughty thoughts are fine with me as long as they stay locked away in your imagination."

"You can savage me and ravage me; I care not what you do."

"Oh everybody look! How unique. They're not touching."

"Please keep your hands off these."

"It'll be like old time, you and me, right up there with the world's greatest pairs!"

"We've only met in a dream!"

"Up until now it's been the worst time, but now that you're here, we're a team!"

"What good is a stooge if he ain't got a boss?"

"I'm very high spirited, doctor. I hope you won't hold it against me."

"So, have you thought of any ways you could use me?"

"Nothing's better than a hayride, underneath the sun."

"There! There wolves!"

"There wolves, there castle!"

"Don't risk my curse, it could be worse!"

"Join the family business, learn the family trade!"

"Make yourself a monster, and make the world afraid!"

"Follow in our footsteps and you'll earn eternal fame!"

"As you know, predestination, from the day of your creation has determined you vocation, that's a fact!"

"Just relax, create a serum; come up with a brilliant theorum!"

"This is one position that you never can decline!"

"Love dances in on a whim."

"He was a bully and a brute, he was as crazy as a coot!"

"He was my boyfriend!"

"He always treated me like dirt!"

"But I was happy to be hurt!"

"I was an innocent young lamb, and he was a dirty old goat."

"He was the one I gave my heart to, but we were never wed, even so."

"If I'd mention wedlock, he put me in a headlock!"

"When I asked to be his wife, he stabbed me with a kitchen knife!"

"Where did all the good times go?!"

"If he had an angry fit, I was the first thing that he hit! But I didn't give a shit!"

"So, now we hurl the gauntlet of science into the frightful face of death itself."

"Death has ruled without question."

"Tear the night asunder, cast your light upon the dark!"

"Give my creature life!"

"We're considered both a Death and a Tourist Trap."

"Rich and poor are all soft-shoeing it in hotels or huts!"

"Even dogs are also doing it, pedigrees and mutts!"

"Do the Transylvania Mania!"

"Catch the monster before he strikes again!"

"Hello heartaches, goodbye kvellings."

"Let's forget about thinking, thinking's never smart."

"Flush your brain right down the drain, and listen to your heart!"

"Lose your mind, 'cause love is blind, and listen to your heart!"

"You'll find such bliss in the kissin' you're missin'."

"Intellectuals are ineffectuals when it comes to making love."

"Don't resist cupid's dart."

"Everybody loves to get a surprise."

"It all can change, if your fates arrange a nice surprise for you."

"There’s nothing like a wonderful surprise!"

"Here’s what we advise, never bother people with a surprise!"

"It's been so long since I felt the touch of someone's hand."

"Oh, Lord, let's face it, we're talkin' LONELY here!"

"You don't know your left from your right."

"You'll be the greatest creation of man since the invention of fire!"

"You'll be cheered, never feared evermore!"

"You know, until now my life has been nothing but a meaningless world of silly parties."

"Again? Oh, you're incouragable, aren't you?"

"We will take a hay ride when we're on our honeymoon!"

"Even monsters fall in love!"

[writeyouin]

How would the TFA autobots react to an Harley Quinn like character? Think about it! It would be so funny! They have deal with human villains before but never deal with an crazy and bad@ss girl before! Also she kidnapped Sari (for whatever reasons) and was broke up with an ex-boyfriend (can be either headcanons or scenario)

Transformers Animated / Reader Headcanons - Crazy Like Quinn

Optimus Prime

What is wrong with this human? Sari, is it normal for humans to be like... this? No?

Either way, it's up to Team Prime to stop them.

Preferably before they do more damage with that hammer.

Briefly, he thinks the fight might be over after disarming you, but no... there's another weapon. A bat.

He gets rid of that and then, a bazooka. WHERE did you pull that from? Never mind, he doesn't want to know.

Just once, can't a villain like this put their talents to good? How many people could you help if you put that speed, agility, and strength to good use?

Boss-bot is so tired.

Bumblebee

When Bumblebee saw you swinging that hammer... he was a little turned on.

Then you pulled out the many other weapons in your arsenal.

"Hey, this is just like the boss fight in my game!"

He is way too excited about this.

He speeds around you, "Do you like video games too? Is that where you learned those moves?"

You - "I learned those moves from my sweet puddin'"

Bumblebee

You- You're taken. He deflates slightly until you add that you add that you do like video games.

He wants to go back and forth with some witty banter because you're so much fun to play with, but Bulkhead gets involved, trying to grab you, and tells Bee not to get distracted.

Bulkhead

"Bumblebee, we're supposed to be fighting, not making friends."

Although Bulkhead says this, he sounds unsure of himself. You seemed nice when you weren't hitting stuff.

"Hey, clown-human, can we stop fighting, please?"

You put your hand to your cheek, playing coy, then... "NO!"

Bulkhead is beside himself.

Sari told him clowns were supposed to be fun.

He hurries to grab you again and finally manages to catch you in one clawed fist.

You up-kick him in the jaw plate and he reels back.

"No fair," He groans. "Humans aren't supposed to be that strong."

Prowl

While you're pointing and laughing at Bulkhead, Prowl sneaks up behind you.

He throws one of his stars, and you barely dodge it.

"HOLY SHIT! Where the hell did you come from?!"

Prowl attacks again, without passing comment.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

"Let's get this over with," Prowl says with a sense of finality.

Yet, through the fight, he can't help but admire your skill. In a match of 1 V 5, you're holding your own remarkably well.

He has a grudging respect for you.

Ratchet

Ratchet doesn't care much for this fight. It's a young bot's game.

At first, he was doing what he could to assist the others.

Now, he's more concerned with stopping you from hurting civilians.

"Pull it together and get this over with, Prime," He gripes at the team leader as he uses his EMP to hold up the crumbling foundations of a building, just long enough for the civilians to escape.

He's already thinking about the repairs he's going to have to give the others when this is all over.

What he would give for an apprentice doctor at times like this.

Sari

This is totally cool. You are such a badass.

She says as much, giving you pause, "You guys fight villains all the time and you think I'm cool? Aww, cute kid."

"Heck yeah! I wish I could do that."

The bots are wondering whose side Sari is on.

"You wanna see something really cool, kid?"

Sari is practically bouncing. What are you going to do next.

You flip over to her and pick her up, hauling her over your shoulder.

"Get ready to see a cool villain base, girly. It's the hottest place to hang out."

Sari knows she should be mad about be ing kidnapped, but she's sure your base will be awesome. Besides, the Autobots will probably rescue her soon.

You throw a smoke-bomb down and are gone. It's a hurried call of "Autobots, Roll Out!" and they are gone to search for you and Sari.

[moonlight-tmd]

Do you think Optimus is more of a figure or more of an overprotective older brother?

SíI honestly don't see Optimus as a father figure because he is very young and much more inexperienced than other Optimus.

For example tfp Optimus.

I also think Ratchet is the grandfather, but a bitter one who can't wait for his end to come. While he may be grumpy and hate that other bots don't know what he knows he definitely cares about his team and would never wish for someone to go through what he did.

(I feel like they could have done a lot more with their relationship with Lockdown)

Bulkhead is a BIG teddy bear. He is very clumsy and has a lot of strength, but if you get to know him he is the sweetest being you will ever meet.

I'm completely convinced that the entire team (including Sari) agreed to take down the first bot or person who mocks Bulkhead.

Prowl clearly lacks a father figure. He was a boy who did not want to participate in the war, but he was dragged, literally, against his will with Yoketron to teach him how to fight.

Her first reaction was to immediately hate him. And who can blame him? But Yoketron wasn't bothered by that and was quite patient in teaching him and I'm sure at some point Prowl called "dad" to him at least once.

(and then he died, but that's not important)

Bumblebee. Do I really need to write it? You already know the answer.

I kinda got confused while reading this but I think we're talking TFA Optimus-

I haven't watched the show but the way I see him is that he's somewhat like a parent figure to the group- except Ratchet, the docbot is more like his parent figure, he's always gone to him for an advice.

Optimus is stern but his team's wellbeing is his top priority. Most of the times he'll act all stoic and cool but he will be soft and gentle when the situation calls for it. He's patient and tries his best to understand what someone else is going thru to help them. He knows the saying "Primes don't party" but sometimes he can be persuaded to be a little silly with the others. Over all he cares about his little found family a lot and tries his best to manouver their situations so that they come out of it alright.

On a side note I do believe few of the members remind him of sparklings. He definitelly has a more parental relationship with Bee in particular; kid has a knack for getting in trouble and Optimus is tired from constantly trying to get him out and cover it up. Bee is not the one to talk about his own feelings so in the rare moments where Op catches him feeling miserable(most often after he had a nightmare) he'll sit with him and talk.

Optimus may be younger than his other version and lack experience in certain areas but he's still willing to try and make things right and learn in the process. Most importantly he's willing to cross lines if it means he can help someone; mechs first, law second.

[skylarkking]

"One In The Same"

A TFA Blitzwing x Mech!Reader

Word Count: 1.2k

Chapter 3: Speedway

"Optimus! Decepticons are on my tail!" I called over the comlink as both Blitzwing and Lugnut chased after me. "I'm trying to lead them away!"

"Y/D, get your tailpipe out of there! Now!" Ratchet barked over the comlink. "We're closing in on your position, Prime and the others will handle the Decepticons!"

"But -"

"NO BUTS YOUNG BOT!" There was an uncharacteristic panic to his tone, a tone Ratchet only used when he genuinely thought I was in danger.

And I would be a fool to ignore his words.

I skidded into a drift, locking on the Autobots signal and making a beeline for them. I spotted the group and shifted forms, back flipping with blades ejecting out from between my knuckle joints like the human superhero Wolverine.

"ZERE! MORE AUTOBOTS!" Blitzwing yelled as both Decepticons shifted forms.

"Ratchet, Sari, Y/D! Fall back to the ship!" Optimus ordered.

"Yes, sir." I said.

"THE TRIPLE CHANGER STAYS!" Lugnut barked as he fired his missiles. I shoved Ratchet and Sari out of harms way and barely managed to dodge the missiles. The missiles impacted the ground and exploded in a ball of fire, cutting me off from the others by a billow of dense smoke.

"GO GO GO!" I yelled through the smoke.

"KID!" Ratchet called.

"DONT WORRY ABOUT ME! GET SARI TO SAFETY AND GET THE ALLSPARK OUT OF HERE!" I was tackled by Lugnut and pinned to the ground, my blades slashing at his side and leaving trails of energon in its wake. Lugnut let out a bellow and backed off, Prowl and Bulkhead jumping into the fight along with Bumblebee and Optimus.

As I was about to go help them, Blitzwing cut me off, his arms and wings spreading to shield me from the fight.

"Go." He said.

"What?" I questioned.

"Go with your medic. Before zat oaf notices." I hesitated a moment but nodded and took off after Ratchet and into the water. I quickly found the ship along with the medic and human.

"Y/D? How'd you escape?" Sari asked as I entered the ship and shook off the water.

"It's... complicated." I said. "Have you been able to get the ship online?"

"Not yet because SOMEONE," Ratchet said while shooting Sari a scolding glare. "Doesn't want us to leave and won't listen."

"Sari," I said ever so gently as I knelt down next to her. "Why don't you want us to leave?"

"Because you're my friends... and I don't want to be alone!" She sobbed.

"Sari, I don't think any of us want to leave." I said as I picked her up and gently held her against my chassis. "Primus knows i certainly don't. But if we stay, the Decepticons will destroy this planet and everything on it. Including you."

"But... they can't be that bad?" She sniffled.

"Some might not be." I said as I thought about Blitzwing. "But just like humans, you don't know how dangerous someone can be until they show you their true colors. Ratchet and I have both experienced firsthand the horrors of Megatron and his loyalists. They will stop at nothing to get the Allspark." I gently released Sari from the sort of hug and wiped a tear delicately from her face. "We don't want you or this planet to face the same horrors our world has. Do you understand?"

"I... it's not fair." She sniffled.

"I know, Sari. But when it comes to war well, nothing is fair." My expression softened, and a small smile crept on my dermas. "But you can help make it a fair fight." I hooked my digit under her key and lightly lifted it off of her chest. "The Allspark has given you this gift for a reason, one beyond our understanding. It depends on your just as much as it depends on us. It isn't just the lives that currently exist that are at stake but also those yet to come."

Sari paused a long while as she pondered my words before a smile crept on her face.

"How can I help?"

----

"Ratchet, do you think we can get the weapons system online?" I asked the medic as he rummaged around the command bridge.

"With Sari's key, we can give the ship enough juice to launch something." Ratchet said.

"Then you two should get ready, I'll see if I can -" I suddenly froze up, and my optics went white in color, my expression frozen and distant.

"Y/D?" Sari said as she climbed up a nearby stack of crates and waved her hand in front of my face. "Y/D? Yoohoo?"

No response.

"Ratchet, something is wrong with Y/D!" Sari called to the medic. Ratchet turned around and saw my frozen state, his spark dropping to his tanks at the sight.

"Oh scrap, not now!" Ratchet exclaimed.

"What's happening to him?" Sari asked.

"I don't know, it's happened before."

"What do we do?"

"We can worry about Y/D later. Right now, the others need our help."

While the pair were scrambling about trying to get the weapons system back online, I found myself trapped in my own mind, remembering things that never happened.

Or at least I thought so.

"The Enigma is ready to be transported." I heard a voice say.

"And how many were forged?" Another I recognized as Starscream's said

"Only this one. The Autobots attacked the lab before another could be produced."

"Does it have a spark?"

"It does, and it should be entirely loyal to Megatron as he sees fit."

"Excellent." I then heard a set of pedes walk away, and something touched my face, although I couldn't see anything. "I think I'll make some... alterations to you, hm? Make you serve your true Master."

The white light faded from my optics, and I collapsed onto the ground with a crash at the exact same time Sari inserted her key to power the weapons system.

I heard the firing of the weapons followed by a watery explosion. Then I remembered nothing more.

----

"Kid? Kid!" Ratchet called through the black. "Cmon, I know you hear me!"

"Nnng, why are you shouting?" I grumbled as I opened my optics and found I was back in the Autobot base. I groaned and gripped my helm as a throbbing pain ran through it, my optics sceunching tight and my jaws locking up.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We were getting the weapons charged to help Optimus and the others fight off the Decepticons," Sari said. "And you just... stopped working."

"Yeah, that happens sometimes." I chuckled. "Are the others okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Optimus said, pulling my attention to him. "But maybe it's time you took that break Ratchet suggested you'd take."

"I'm fine, Optimus." I said sternly. "Freeze ups happen sometimes. But thanks for your concern." I rose from the medical berth and headed to my quarters where I laid down and stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression.

I thought about the other times I had a freeze up and realized that out of all of them, this was the only time I had something other than a forced shutdown happen.

"What in Primus is happening to me?"

-------

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[the-firebird69]

Watch "Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers" on YouTube

It's the murder house it's also Grandma's house and the correlation is Grandma to Biden who is president and that's Lori were talking about her QE2 and to the Mac clan McDonald's. And they're saying if you go up there that your clan will be hit but I don't think that it is inoperative until he goes there I think it's an operative code now and it has to do with Puff the magic dragon has to do with the serpent or snake really, but I feel that something that happened there that Mac was involved with or not that they blame him saying that your magical kids or something or after the bones of the Tommy F clone Giants

Zues Hera

That is what the whole thing needs and they had Trump murder his own and they forced it and in the house and it's considered sacrilege and Mac was really mad he found the house moved out there and got even angrier saw the two bullying you and thought they did it because of that and he heard you say think about it he's killing his own people and that's what happened and what it means is his people are all going to die and it look like him and it has something to do with Grandma and Grandpa iCarly who is Biden. And that's what it is too. The whole thing starts coming together it's his clothes and it's their code and it's wicked however it does fit with Georgia stuff too and they all are getting curious and the clans, they know biden's plan and they know the plan of trump and Max and their son and they're rubbing he didn't like madness to our son he's not really dealing with it well it's like a madman you know. It's a bit more to it and Mac has been watching the house and inside move and I know it's doing it. It's a book of Eli which means eternity is lying and keep saying about uor son. There's a few more things that it means is a proactive person says he has a s*** together he's on the prowl all these dumb things he says my son says I've had enough of this s*** it's like 10 million times in normal tolerance of any Satanist which is way up there here and I'm a young person and I can't stand you anymore you don't care so you're done. She says it like this you're done I know how to fight and it's the match my son says it's always been the max and you're a Mac so he's a gas but that's what it is and you're his brother. So it's going on like this we're going to use our smarts and tell you what to do. Back off our son Tommy f or you're all done

Thor Freya

No

Tommy f

Then you're all done

Thor Freya

We also iterate it and we say this in addition you're the brainless a****** making all these stupid noises and threats for the most part and everyone's figuring it out and they're going after you the week you get the more obvious it is these people do it too but it's more control you're idiots are out of control

Olympus

You're a huge f**** Tommy f this is a kid's trick and you fell for it it's probably the clans and you're a p**** trying to kidnap me all the time it's for idiots and they were doing it too but really you're a f**** we're going to prove it too what a piece of s*** you know you're treating somebody with an army size you don't know or proportion like dog s*** and you're going to find out that we're huge in a way that is extremely painful and you won't find anything out about what we are you're such a huge loser if these people are massive losers they're a humongous loser if I can just explain it to you I don't know about the ships you keep telling me about it you stupid f****** loser

Zues Hera

I guess I'm missing something I certainly will see it coming up he says and my shifts will be piloted by what I'm missing and trying to go for all the time I do understand that it's payment for what I'm trying but you're going down

Tommy f

What a f****** p**** and a f**** you think that and threatening an inventor more or less is going to save you how f****** cream puff does it get you're inviting people to slaughter yours and you you stupid little snide b**** just like these bags that's what it is loser

Zues Hera that is what it is and you people are stupid as hell you do it every day you're dying everyday you can't figure it out you're such a useless pile of s*** I'm going after you cuz now you're a threat to just about everybody cuz you're a hopeless out of control desperate f**** Tommy f and we're going after you hard you piece of s*** you shot at my husband three times and you start dying and you still don't get the problem yeah you lost it these people lost it your weak and you got to get the f*** out of here and you're going out and we're going to take you out

We're on it now and we're going after them but boy what weeklings

Olympus

You're Awakening the giant Tommy F and you losers trumpsters and bja every few seconds You're such morons I can't believe how f****** stupid you are

Mac

[themollyzone]

things that freaked me out recently

Uhhhh you guys ever see this shit?? I was skulking around Bushwick killing time before filming a band perform at a battle of the bands-style competition and needed some energy. To my surprise at the Walgreens was this crazy digital drink window. It was actually dark when I first came upon it, and lit up when I grabbed the handle.

Digitized facsimiles of energy bevraginos! FREAKY! Was I living under a rock? Have I been sleeping on the pixel representation of caffeinated (and otherwise) cans until this moment? The Matrix was a documentary. I went for my new love of the moment, Celsius, in the kiwi guava flavor. I don't think I've ever eaten a real honest to god guava. Should I cop a guava? Digital representation of a beverage representation of a tropical fruit. Zoom in.....enhance.

My woman-doctor's office is in Soho and I make my appointments in the morning, meaning I can get a great Soho experience in the crisp am without having to slice through a phalanx of TikTokers. Of course, everyone I do see in Soho on an early weekday hour is dressed to the nines. One of the most confusing things about 2023 NYC is that even otherwise basic girls wear leather pants now - in the daytime! I always thought of leather pants as 'weeding out the fakes' but we're living in an edgy time, I guess.

Speaking of weekdays, I went to a party with Chris on a Wednesday night. I knew it was going to be an indie sleaze revival type of happening so I wore my Ziemba t-shirt that says FEELINGS ARE REAL and, I think, evokes the STOP BEING POOR Paris Hilton moment. Sitting in the party's locale's little pleather-booth section, I had an out-of-body experience as all around me, young women photographed each other thoroughly. The women were prowling around the banquettes, kicking their feet up in the air, pouting and smirking. As a veteran of many cycles of America's Next Top Model-watching, I could confirm that each of these women had It. They were beautiful and knew their angles.

I felt a daffy sensation of incapacity. I am sooo bad at consciously posing for photographs. My college Facebook albums are full of me and other girls throwing up peace signs, smushed together in group pics with smiling faces turned to the sky like sunflowers, sticking out tongues. God it's like every photo of me taken between 2008 and 2012 is the "let's take a silly one" one. Somewhere around the advent of Instagram, the need for advanced posing solidified, and a generation of women galloped off into a more photogenic sunset without me. I can't get mad at it, it's just one of the ways I'm getting cryogenically frozen in my past youth's time, like Austin Powers in the 1960s. Every time I try to take a photo to evoke the current pose vogue, like making my face look very dead, I end up feeling silly.

Chris took pity on me and did a "photo shoot" and I liked how the pics turned out. In the end I simply just need to be having fun at all times and if I stay still for too long it stops being fun!

The Cobrasnake took a pic of me at the party. I would describe getting photographed by the Cobrasnake as similar to when Javier Bardem used that cattle gun on the guy whose car he was trying to steal. BOOSH! - FLASH! - what the FORK just happened???? I grow old, I grow old....I shall wear the bottoms of my skinny jeans rolled.....

[emeraldtart]

The Masked Decepticon

Previous

Next

Chapter 9: Fire In The Sky (Part 2)

"Prowl? Bulkhead? Hey, can anyone hear me!!?" Ratchet yelled through the comm. The medic was stunned. It wasn't supposed to be like this...

He looks at Optimus, who is now recharging on the medbay. He tried scanning the young mech's chassis to find what's wrong with him. But he found nothing.

No virus, no malware, and definitely not a bug that Starscream might have planted. Although the last one seems too big of a stretch in the current situation.

"Lugnut, try to connect with the ship. I'll take care of Prime,"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

'Wherever you are... I hope all of you are safe,'

Xxx

The first thing Bumblebee realised when he woke up is that one, he's alive, and two... Oh, Primus, its freezing! Where the heck is he!!?

He tried to take a look around, but everywhere he looked there was only snow and ice. Were they too late? Has Detroit gone through an ice age?

"Bumblebee, you're awake!"

"Sari? What happened?"

"We got blown off by the weather machine. Blitzwing said that we're somewhere in the Arctic,"

"Oh, I see... Wait, what!!?"

"It iz true. But I'm afraid we got separated. And I can't see slag in the freakin' snow!"

"Can't you fly and find everyone from above?"

"Like I said, I can't see anything. And my wings are broken!"

It's true. Blitzwing's wings are in very bad conditions. A part of it had snapped off, and there are some dents on it.

"Holy slag, I didn't even notice that! Are you OK?"

"Do not worry, tiny bee. It already stopped leaking a couple kliks ago,"

"Alright, enough flirting you two," Say Sari.

"We are NOT flirting-"

"Aw, shut up. You're clearly are! Anyway, we need to find Prowl, Bulkhead and Starscream. Blitzwing, do you have some kind of radar or something?"

Blitzwing turned on the radar that was installed in him. He managed to find one spark signal.

"There's someone, but... Its not a spark signal I'm familiar with,"

"Huh? Wait, you're saying there's another Cybertronian other than us on Earth!? How?"

"Don't ask me. Also, it's right under us,"

As soon as Blitzwing finished his sentence, the ground under them started to crack, "Oh, that's not good," Bumblebee fearfully said. "Wen need to go, NOW!" Bumblebee transforms into his altmode and Sari jumped into the car. Blitzwing also transform into his tank altmode to get away.

However, the trio could only get a few meters away as they all fall into the abyss.

"Someone, help!!!" yelled Sari.

Xxx

Bulkhead tapped the comm a few times, trying to get it to work but to no avail, "Fixing his would take a while,"

"Is the radar undamaged? We need to find the rest of our group, first,"

"I can get it to work. But, I'm not sure if it'll do us good in this kind of weather,"

Outside of the Orion, the snowstorm is turning into a full-on blizzard. At the rate things are going, their teammates outside will all freeze to the state of offlining if they sit here any longer.

"Prowl? Where're you going?"

"Bulkhead, stay here and fix the ship. I'll try to search for the others,"

"Oh, acting like the Prime now, are you?"

At the sound of the voice, Prowl drew out his weapon. Starscream stood near the door, wiping out the snow on his chassis.

"Starscream... What are you planning?" Prowl questioned the Decepticon Seeker.

"Nothing. Just saying that it's impossible to search for the others without a proper radar,"

Prowl still hasn't lowered his guard. While it's true that Optimus trusted Starscream, the others didn't. After all, he almost offlined Optimus, Bumblebee and Sari all in the same day.

"Listen, you are still Convoy's allies. I won't do anything, unless if you openly get in my way,"

Prowl stop to think about the Seeker's words. He puts his weapon back, and sighed, "Fine. But no tricks,"

"Alright, Seeker's promise, cross my Spark, and all that. Come on, let's go,"

The two went out of the ship and Starscream transform into his altmode. Prowl leapt on the jet, and the two start their search.

Xxx

"Sari, you're okay?" Bumblebee asked. The girl had been shivering, so he turned on the heater. Unfortunately, even the car heater at maximum setting is unable to keep his human friend warm in the Arctic.

"Y-Yeah... J-J-Just... Cold... Its freezing in here,"

Blitzwing, who was in his root form, looks at Bumblebee, "Put the girl in my cockpit. My heating system might prevent her from getting frozen alive,"

And so, Bumblebee did. Sari released a sigh of relief, "Whew, this is much better. Thanks, Blitz,"

"You're welcome," Blitzwing glanced at Bumblebee and caught him staring, "You're cold?"

"Yeah, obviously,"

Blitzwing carries the yellow bot, surprising him, "Hey, what are you doing, Blitzbrain?"

"Making sure you're not freezing to death,"

Bumblebee simply made a tiny hmph! at Blitzwing's response. Meanwhile, inside Blitzwing's cockpit, Sari is grinning from ear to ear, "Hehe... The ship has sailed,"

Xxx

"See anything?" Starscream asked. "No? Did your radars pick anything up?"

"Nothing- wait, I got something... No,"

Starscream was silent. On his radar was the spark signature of him.

"Starscream? What is it?"

"I... No... I thought... How...?"

Prowl had to grip Starscream as he suddenly dived near a cave made of snow. The cyberninja jumped off as Starscream transform back. The Seeker immediately ran into the cave, Prowl following close behind.

"Starscream, wait!"

'It can't be... I thought I had lose him...!'

Xxx

Sari stared at the glacier in front of her. The three had found a wide room with lots of ice in it. And sitting in the middle was a mech trapped in one of the ice.

"I-Is he alive?"

"He's... He's still online. It seems like he's in a stasis lock, probably after he fell here," Blitzwing explained. He, too, was showed to see another Cybertronian on this planet.

The mech in question is majorly white, with some red lines on his boy and a single blue stripe on his helm. He also had black audials and a blue glass chassis. He is also very huge. Maybe bigger than Megatron, thought Blitzwing.

In spite of that, a pair of wings could be seen, and his face was covered with a mask.

After a moment, Bumblebee spoke up, "So... What do we do? We can't just leave him here,"

Suddenly, loud pedsteps could be heard. From another tunnel, Starscream came running into the room, followed by Prowl.

"Prowl, there you are!"

"Bumblebee, Blitzwing! Wait, where's Sari?"

"She's in here. I'm making sure she's warm," say Blitzwing, pointing at his cockpit. He opened it, and Sari leapt down, "Prowl! How did you find us?"

"Not me, but..."

"Skyfire!"

Everyone look at Starscream, who is looking at the mech in the ice. He was making a face that no one could imagine him make. It was joy, sadness, regret and relief, all at the same time.

"I thought I lost you, my light,"

Wait. What?

Prowl could only utter one word that describe the feeling of everyone in the cave, "Huh?"

Bumblebee looks at Blitzwing, whose mouth was wide open, "Uh... What is he talking about?"

"... I don't know! I've never know Starscream of all mech would have a Conjunx!"

"What's a Conjunx?" asked Sari.

"Eh, it's basically when two bots are in lovey-dovey kinda thing. It can also mean they're bonded,"

"Wait. Starscream is a married man?"

"Yeah,"

"Him?"

"It's a surprise for us, too, alright?"

Everyone snapped out of their shock on the sound of null rays starting up. "Wait, wait, wait! What the heck are you doing!?"

"Freeing Skyfire? What else?"

"If you shoot, the whole thing would fall under us!"

"Uh... Let me melt the ice," Blitzwing offered.

Xxx

Bulkhead wiped the imaginary sweat from his forehelm, "Phew, that should do it. And now..."

"Bulkhead! Are you alright?" Ratchet asks.

"Yeah. I'm waiting for the others to come back,"

The ship's door opened, and Bulkhead saw Blitzwing and Starscream dragging an unfamiliar mech inside.

"Bulkhead, can you help bring him to the medbay?" asked Prowl.

"Whoah, sure, but... Who is he? What happened to him?"

"I'll explain everything later. For now, we need to make sure he's fine," Say Starscream. He helped Bulkhead carry the large white flighframe, and Ratchet's optics widened.

"Ratchet. How's Optimus' condition?" Prowl asked, snapping the old medic bot out of his trance.

"He's waking up. He's a bit disoriented. Unfortunately, I can't find anything wrong with him,"

"I see. We'll be back in Detroit. How's the condition there?"

"Well, it's getting worse. The snow just keep coming and I'm pretty sure we're trapped in the building right now,"

"We're on our way. Just hang in there,"

Xxx

The ship is hovering over the storm's eye. Sari opened the blueprint and pointed to the middle of the plan, "Here's the generator. If we shoot, we can take it down,"

"Why didn't we just do that the first time?"

"Powell would make a fuss about it. But now's not the time. Can you aim for the generator?"

"Sure thing!"

Blitzwing carefully aimed, and blasted towards the machine. Unfortunately, it was unable to pierce through into the power source. He tried multiple shots, but the results are the same.

"Dammit! Now how do we stop this thing?" yelled Bumblebee.

"I think I know someone that can help,"

Everyone looks back and saw the mech. His mask was pulled back, showing his blue optics.

"I think I can demolish it. My null ray is probably strong enough,"

"Really? But you just woke up," say Bumblebee.

"I'm alright, just a little sore. But, I might need some help with aiming. There's only enough energy for one shot,"

Starscream and Blitzwing carefully fly down near the storm, Skyfire being suspended in midair with some thick wire. The white mech aimed his null ray towards the machine, "I need to get closer. Can you lower down just a bit more?"

The two lighter flight frames looks at each other. They slowly lower themselves, and Skyfire smiled, "Alright, brace yourselves!"

"Wait, what did you mean by that?"

Skyfire fired the blast, and the three were momentarily pushed back by the sheer momentum of the weapon. The weather machine exploded into bits, and the blizzard slowly come to an end.

"OK, mission accomplished. Let's go back to ship," say Skyfire.

Bulkhead, who was looking at the weapon in Skyfire's servos sweat dropped, "... How is that weapon for 'protection'?"

Xxx

"You guys done a good job. Still, I'm surprised you guys found a Cybertronian in the Arctic," say Optimus. His processor and voice box is clear. He no longer see anything or talk weirdly.

"Yeah. And you know what? He's Starscream's Conjunx!" say Sari.

Optimus coughed on the oil he's drinking, "Wait, what?"

"Is it that surprising to know I'm a taken mech?"

A synchronised "Yes," is the answer.

Sari sips her hot cocoa and has a devilish grin on her face, "Say, how did you guys meet?"

"Oh, that? It was 2.4 million years ago..."

Xxx

(Flashback)

I used to be a scientist, travelling from planet to planet learning about its climates, its ecosystem and wildlife.

(Hah! You're a nerd!!)

(Your dad's a nerd.)

(Yeah, well... Never mind, just continue your story.)

Anyway, Skyfire asked me to go explore a new planet the Science Department discovered. I was worried, because we barely knew anything about this new planet. But he urged me, and I gave in.

We barely made it to the planet's atmosphere, when we were caught in a solar storm. Skyfire crashed on Earth, and I spent lunar cycles trying to find him.

But I never did.

With a heavy spark, I left him where his chassis might never be found. But when I came back to Cybertron, I was immediately arrested.

I was accused of killing my colleague. I tried getting some of the bots in the higher ranks I know to help defend me, but no one did.

Not even Dion.

They locked me in a prison without any windows. I thought being offlined is a better option that that.

But my trine found out about the injustice. They set me free, and we hid in Kaon, where we found Orion Pax and... Megatronus.

(Flashback ends)

Xxx

Everyone in the room was horrified. Blitzwing looks at Starscream and said, "They didn't give you a chance to defend yourself?"

"I think they think it's a good opportunity to get rid of two possible 'rebels' in the community. Maybe that's why no one wanted to defend me. They're terrified of the punishment waiting them if they did,"

"Wait? I don't get it? How are you rebelling whne you're just doing your job as a scientist?" asked Bulkhead.

"Back in the Golden Age, the Council upheld a strict law about functionalism. If you do a job you're not forged to do, you will be punished. If you try to help the people who rebel against this system, you'll be punished too," Ratchet explained, "That law was discontinued after the war, but bits and pieces of it is still here,"

"Ulchtar? Can I talk with you for a klik?" asked Skyfire. Starscream looks at the other bots in the room before following his conjunx.

Xxx

The two are in a remote area of Detroit. It's just the two of them under the starry night sky.

"So... Its been 2 million years..." Skyfire started.

"Yeah,"

"It felt like it was only yesterday I fell on this planet... I leave you alone where you had to do all those... Horrible things. I- Ulchtar... I'm sor-"

Skyfire's words were cut short when Star- no. Ulchtar grabbed the sides of his helm and pulls him into a kiss.

They pulled back, venting hot air from their turbines, "You don't need to apologise. You're here now. With me. That's all that matters,"

Skyfire's stunned expression turns into that of happiness. He wiped his optics as coolant started to flow from it.

"Crying already? I'm the one who should cry, you know?"

"Oh, shut up! You're optics are leaking, too!"

The two laughed together for the first time in 2 million years. They won't be separated again. That is their promise.

Xxx

(Bonus)

Blackarachnia, who was minding her own business, suddenly saw Starscream with an unfamiliar mech, 'Huh? Who is that bot? I don't think he's with Op-'

'Wha- damn,'

'That's hot,'

'Holy slag they're still going!?'

Blackarachnia decided to get out of there immediately after she realised what's coming next, "I think I need to bleach my optics... Sentinel wasn't kidding when he said fliers are nasty,"

[transingthoseformers]

Warlord Twitch

So the humans(or human like creatures) that are left are mostly in hiding from the war so yes the young Terrans don't know much if they know anything about humans. So yes Mirage would definitely ask that question and Twitch will tell him about her two human siblings and her humans parents. She's very gentle about it but she does remind Mirage that part of the war is getting revenge for her human siblings passing before they were supposed to

Once Tero explains that he is Thrash Nightshade feels a little bit more comfortable but not a lot and Megatron is sparkbroken because he knows that Optimus wouldn't have picked Thrash at such a young age unless he had no choice.

So a bit of a time line because we're jumping all over the place

End of first war

Prowl starts looking for Tara

Earthspark (15-30 years give or take)

World starts to end (Dot, Alex, Robbie and Mo die)

World ending gets worse (60 years give or take)

New baby terrans (Hot rod, Brainstorm, Mirage and Smokescreen)

Just when you though it was bad the world ending gets worse (20 years)

Nightshade disappears into the woods

More new Terrans (Cyclonus, Slipstream and First Aid)

Optimus puts the trio in Stasis

Thrash becomes Tero, Twitch starts her decent and Hashtag and Starscream get captured

War starts

Twitch starts her search for nightshade (a little less than 30 years in)

Bulkhead comes back and it makes Wheeljack feel guilty (40 years in)

Prowl finds Nightshade (75 Years in)

Halfway point of war (100 Years in)

Umm a bunch of stuff I haven't figured out

Last quarter (150 in)

Megatron wakes up (160 in)

Nightshade and Megatron head to the autobots 2.0 (160 in)

Twitch gets into Nightshades old lab (161 in)

Prowl and Tara finally reunite (170 in)

Hashtag and Starscream are set free (171 in[I might move this up for more interesting consequences])

War ends (about 200 years after start)

Twitch has her "I lost my way" talk with Megatron (3 years after end)

So that's what I have so far

Exactly yes yes yes exactly exactly! I wanna see Twitch telling Mirage stories about Before.

ohhh tero. Nighty is absolutely going through it, Megatron is disoriented, and Tero has been in over his helm for a while now.

The current timeline you just outlined makes sense! In the "we don't know yet" category, we can (possibly?) put in some of the warcrimes that we don't know the specifics of yet, and i think we should also consider who of the older bots n cons might actually be dead-dead.

OO O AND WE CAN BLAME THE QUINTESSONS FOR SOMETHING SOMEWHERE. I'm fucking right but the Quintessons will be in earthspark at some point or another because i mean c'mon think about all the Quintus Prime stuff and the emberstone but also the Dweller (which is one of the Technoorganics™️ which is a thing with the Quintessons and we might see more of those locked away in earth!), the Quintessons will be involved at some point.

May i suggest that at one point the humans tried to do ~stuff~ in the war and well. Shit went down enough to make them choose flight instead of fight

Do you think bases should get destroyed/rebuilt a couple times. Because i do.

First time that Shockwave suggested a MAJOR major warcrime to Twitch, and what about the first time she agreed?

First death of the second war (Does optimus count as this or was it someone else)?

How were the first wave of new non-malto terrans created and what about the second wave? (As in, what is the emberstone doing and what places is it going)

Are there yet again more terrans created after the second war?

How is Breakdown doing after the "loss" of his wife Bumblebee?

[naiad-dream-way]

What's The Word

Basically decided to go ahead do a little something from this thought the other day! So enjoy!

--------

Prowl didn't know if he would ever get used to these Bots. He had been travelling with them for less than half an orbital cycle

"Do you two ever think before acting?" he signed.

Out of the two of them, Bulkhead appeared to be the only one a shame as his wrecking ball servo was wrapped around a rock he attempted to destroy. The issue was Bumblebee, who didn't look at all please as he was wrapped around the rock by Bulkhead's wrecking ball. How these two ended up in these kinds of situations, the ninja bot didn't know and was somewhat afraid to ask.

"Stop with the lecture! Get us down before Bo-"

"Before what, Bumblebee?"

"...Never mind."

Prowl stood by, watched the repair crew captain came out of the ship, and walk over to where the two Bots had tied themselves up. The medic followed after him, complaining about young Bots and having no sense these solar cycles. There was no need for his help as Prowl watched the captain take his axe and start to break the stone and soon was able to release the two Bots from the trouble that they had found themselves in.

"Can't I leave you two along for a cycle without getting into trouble?" sighed the captain, shaking his head at the two.

"Come on, Boss Bot, we were trying to spice things up. It's so boring to do the same thing, solar cycle after solar cycle. All we do is clear out these space bridges of rocks and space junk," moaned out Bumblebee, throwing his arms into the air. Its moments like this, Prowl had to wonder if the minibot was actually a sparkling with that kind of attitude.

Did he really need a lift that badly to deal with this?

"Look, I know we're on this thankless mission but we're just cogs of the big-"

Prowl moaned as the captain started into his Autobot machine speech. Why? Why did he always do this?

It seems he wasn't the only one frustrated with the captain's tried propaganda-filled words. Bumblebee let out a louder and more frustrated sigh as he and Bulkhead moved to head back to the ship. "Yeah Yeah, move mountains and slag! We heard that all before Boss Bot, don't be an Optimus, basically."

Don't be a what?

"You young Bots and yer slaggin' nonsense slang," grumbled Ratchet, following on after the two, leaving Prowl and their captain behind. "Where did you pick up at fragging scrap."

"Being an Optimus? Everyone at boot camp used it," mumbled Bulkhead. "Suppose to mean you're a failure, or coward...been called that a lot."

"Yeah, it's supposed to be an actual Academy dropout's name," laughed Bumblebee.

"Heard it was some Bot that got like their whole group training excise killed cause they were too scared. They were expelled afterwards and forced to run to the edge of the universe to escape. Maybe cause they wanted to put them into the Trypticon Prison?"

"I heard that the Bot supposedly tried to join the Decepticons, but even they wouldn't take in someone that pathetic."

"Bah! How can you believe in such trash," scoffed Ratchet. "Back in-"

Watching the trio make their way back up into the ship, Prowl sighed and wondered once more why he bothered to stay with these Autobots. Turning to the captain, he found himself in a bit of a curious sight.

How he had his grip around his axe so tight it appeared like the weapon was going to bend from its strength. His face seemed to be so tense. As if he was trying to stop himself from showing some type of emotion. Guilt? Sadness? Anger? Prowl couldn't tell.

"Orion? Are you alright?"

The question seemed to have snapped the captain out of whatever turmoil his processor had going. Orion took to letting his fans cycle as he put away his weapon with a shake of his head.

"I'm fine, Prowl," he said, giving the ninja bot a smile of reassurance as he started to walk on after the rest of the crew.

That was a smile that Prowl didn't believe was real for one nanoklik. Part of him wanted to dig deeper, to ask what was truly bothering Orion. But again, it wasn't any of his business.

Whatever issues these Autobots had, he didn't want any part of it.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Neil Young with The Trans Band - The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, California, August 13, 1982

Sorry everyone — we're going back to Santa Cruz with Neil Young again! Hey, I'm in charge here. This time, we're checking out the early days of the Trans Band, warming up at the Catalyst just before they set off on a fairly disastrous tour of European stadiums and arenas. Now, when we think of this Neil era, we usually think of his Trans alter ego prowling the stage with a headset and shades, singing "Computer Age" and "Sample and Hold." But that was not really the focus of his '82 shows — they actually boasted very fan-friendly setlists. Plenty of greatest hits, played by a kind of supergroup of Neil's former collaborators. It's as though Young looked back at all his previous bands and grabbed some players at random: Bruce Palmer from the Buffalo Springfield, Ralph Molina from Crazy Horse, Ben Keith from the Stray Gators, Nils Lofgren from the Santa Monica Flyers, Joe Lala from CSNY / Stills-Young Band ...

On paper, it seems like it'd be great. And for the most part on this tape, it is! Maybe the chemistry isn't quite as strong as some of Young's other ensembles (and Lala's congas are definitely an acquired taste), but the vibes are good overall, whether they're jamming out the end of "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," or exploring the grooves of "Like An Inca." Neil and Nils get into some good guitar duels on a (relatively hopped-up) "Cortez" and there are some nice harmonies happening on "Birds." Curiously, the techno material is saved for the very end, as though Neil was already a little unsure of this particular direction. But "Sample and Hold" and the Trans remake of "Mr. Soul" are pretty cool and weird, just the way we like it.

[citree]

Good luck (and inspiration) with your book! Hope we'll get a description or a premise of what it is about when it's done. 🙃

Thanks! and haha, it's a magical gangster story set in a 1930s fantasy world! I started writing it a couple years ago because I thought I'd be fun and kinda dumb, but it's evolved into a whole big thing, at nearly 140K now (and I'm going to have to shave it down once I get to the second draft). Here's the synopsis I'm using right now, and a few bits of writing though shhh, it's a secret...

After getting shot in the head, a young woman wakes up in a world of gangsters, magic, and mystery, with no memory of who she is or who tried to kill her. Worse: there are people after her and monsters prowling every corner, hunting Jane Doe for reasons she can’t recall. With the law at her side—and a handsome detective known to the city of Meridia, as well as every mobster with a grudge— Doe is forced to team up with high rollers and lowlifes both mundane and magical; all to retrace her steps and put old wrongs to right. But what happens when you find out who you are is completely different from the person you thought you’d be? Some snippets I enjoy: Doe frowned at the detective. "Why hire a blood mage if the practice is so dangerous and unreliable?"

Auclair gave an evasive shrug. "Maybe I’m just an impatient troublemaker and I hate waiting for results. Or perhaps I just felt like getting yelled at by the captain."

"That's not true at all," Sony said flatly. "You were so wound up in the hospital when they said Doe wouldn't pull through—"

Auclair shot him a quieting look. She made an interested noise, keen on hearing more, and the Detective let out a long-suffering sigh, attempting to save face. "Okay, you got me. I’ve got a heart of gold, I find people dying in front of me upsetting."

"Oh is that all?"

She believed him, but she got the feeling that wasn’t the whole story. ∘

Auclair pointed a finger at the young officer across the table. "Y’know what your problem is?"

"Is that what we're doing right now? fighting?" Doe asked, before going back to her pancakes. She reached across the table to grab more syrup, surprised and glad at least it wasn’t over her great bombshell. But wasn’t it a little disappointing they hadn’t flipped a table or something? Did she have to do everything herself around here? “What about my problems?”

“Shhh.” Auclair held up a hand. Doe stared at it, aghast. “Sony, don’t you ever do anything fun? Read a book? Go on a walk, shoot your gun into the air just to feel alive?”

Sony stared at him. “That sounds dangerous. How often do you start randomly shooting into the air? Does the Captain know about this?”

“Well, I think if I did she’d know immediately and chew me out for it, but since it was just an expression,” Auclair said, trailing off.

“I’m sorry Auclair, did you just shush me?” Doe asked incredulously. “I tell you this case-altering information and I get five seconds of your time?”

∘ “Isn’t it past your bedtime kid?” Cyrus said sweetly, flicking his fingers at him and sending a small puff of smoke in Sony’s direction.

“It was,” he ground out, waving away the smoke ring with prejudice. “Before someone woke me up.”

“Sorry,” Doe said from her chair. “Next time your brother attacks me I’ll beat him to death a bit quieter.”

“That’s all I ask,” Sony sighed, turning his back to his bedroom. “Cyrus, you’re welcome to sleep on the couch tonight, but try to keep the noise to a minimum.” "She clubbed me in the head with a bat!"

Doe shrugged. "That's what happens when you crawl through people's windows at night. Maybe try knocking next time." ∘ (and my fav scene...)

They lay in silence for some time, in the dark, as the guilt gnawed at her slowly.

Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore and kicked a foot out from her bed.

"OW!" it struck Auclair in the back, and he jolted up in alarm. "You're kicking me now?!"

"Get in the bed stupid," she huffed, sure it was probably a bad idea, but she felt too guilty to care. When he didn't move to comply, she kicked him again. "I mean it!"

"You're insane," He said, but soon enough he was on his feet, and Doe switched on the lamp.

She pointed to the other side of the bed, shuffling her blankets over so she'd have her space. "Stay on your side and maybe I won't kick you again."

He huffed, but didn't complain, tentatively sitting down on the other end like he was still ticked off at her. He probably was.

"Take your shoes off," she ordered, and she didn't miss the aggravated tick of a smile as he complied, though it was really more of a toothy grimace.

"If tonight's the night you boss me around and ignore my feelings, sure, fine, this might as well keep happening," he said, and he settled back onto the mattress. ... "...what are you doing?"

"Sleeping. Isn't it obvious?" She murmured through her pillow. Her back had a horrible crick it in from laying on one side for hours. She let out a low whine. "...what time is it?"

"Half-past nine," he said, yawning loud.

Doe groaned and threw her pillow off her face, her eyes red and glassy. "Please, gods, just kill me."

She adjusted her position on the far corner of the bed, back cracking as she moved.

"I should've made you stay on the floor. At least one of us would've been rested."

He rolled his head to the side, equally tired but somehow willing to compromise. A far change from the previous night. "Why don't we just handle this like adults and cuddle?"

∘

Here's all I'm willing to share for now 😉 Draft 1 is a beast that needs a lot of editing before sharing it with others, but this story is so fun to write, I can't wait to get it done and make the characters that live in my head finally pay rent 😤

[spicycreativity]

Fanfic Appreciation Week Day 7: A Place Where I Can Breathe

Yes, folks, I'm appreciating my own darn fanfic for the final day of Fanfic Appreciation Week because I worked really hard on it and it was a labor of love for/with one of my QPPs, my roommate, the man who got me into Sanders Sides: @\cadeorade-powercade (That's him in the aesthetic board)

Allow me to present the director's commentary for A Place Where I Can Breathe:

Content Warnings: All content warnings mentioned in the fic apply.

Chapter 1: I actually wrote this fairly late in the game. It's meant to serve as a prologue and orient the viewer in the universe, s opposed to staring on Chapter 2, which just throws the viewer in without context. I think it was a good choice, as it also allowed me to introduce the concept of the Sides having power focuses early on.

The Premise: Cade is a Virgil stan and he was getting frustrated looking for Virgil fic. He was finding a lot of stuff written without nuance by young authors, a sort of "by teenagers for teenagers" type deal. We are not teenagers, so we both have a hard time relating to that kind of teen angst fic, as we're not the target audience. So he asked me to write him a Virgil fic and we worked together to identify what plot he wanted, what the Mindscape looked like, and what quirks the Sides have. So a lot of this fic is quite gratuitous and self-indulgent

The Title: Lizzie McAlpine has a song called "Apple Pie" which includes the lyric "I've been running around trying to find a place where I can breathe." Apple Pie SCREAMS Moceit to me, and I had taken notice of the lyric and wanted to use it as the title for a Moceit fic. I didn't really have an idea beyond that, and when Cade asked me to write this fic, I realized it was actually perfect and summed up Virgil's inner struggle quite nicely. So cheers to "A Place Where I Can Breathe," the Moceit Fic That Wasn't

-Cade asked me specifically to include Virgil having a spider and I wrote nearly the whole fic without doing so, then had to go back and sprinkle some references in. I think I managed 2 total.

Chapter 2:

"Uh, how about I hold off on that until I actually see my room?" Virgil stared expectantly at Roman, who bounced on his toes. "Lead on, Macduff."

"That's not the line and you know it," Roman complained, but he turned to lead Virgil to his room. "It's ' lay on, Macduff,' and--"

-This fic was originally supposed to reach a climax with a confrontation between Remus and Roman, and "lay on, Macduff" would come back as a brick joke. Unfortunately, the original ending was a result of me getting tired and lazy, so I had to go back and fix it, and we lost the Roman-Remus confrontation.

It was hard for Virgil to not shudder at the sudden heat and weight on him. With his senses already open and taking in more information than his brain seemed to want to process, touch was an added stressor, more unwanted sensory input.

-Virgil being touch-averse is a direct shoutout to Cade, who is also touch-averse.

Roman had already transformed the living room: metallic streamers of purple and black stretched across the corners of the ceiling, and shiny balloons spelling out A-N-X-E-I-T-Y hovered above the TV.

-Upon first writing, Virgil had already given the upstairs crew his name, so the banner spelled out "VIRIGL" which is way funnier than "ANXEITY." But then his name reveal became a plot point so I had to go back and change it.

-Let! Virgil! Be! Mean!

-Virgil's line about hearing refrigerator noise when Roman talks is another shout-out to Cade, who has leveled that accusation at me

A small, cruel part of him protested at the idea that he would need special treatment and desperately wanted to throw it back in Patton's face. He wasn't a sweetheart, he wasn't a baby. He didn't need to crawl into a blanket fort with Dad just because he was a little stressed.

-Remus calls Janus "Janus Geminus" because I was tired and couldn't come up with a pun. "Geminus" is one of the Roman god Janus' epithets; another is "Pater" meaning "Father." That led to a conversation about Remus deliberately confusing Patton by calling Janus "Daddy," but I couldn't think of a clean way to fit the explanation into the narrative, so I stuck with "Geminus."

Chapter 3:

"There's nothing normal about that! " Roman stared in horror at the coffee massacre Virgil had orchestrated. What had once been a respectable (if not very tasty) cup of black coffee was now part of a 1:1 coffee to milk suspension, the liquid a tasteful shade of tan suitable for business casual trousers or a show-ready chihuahua.

-Cade is a certified Nightmare Man and came up with Virgil's horrifying coffee order after I asked him about it. Keep an eye out for Janus' equally horrifying coffee order later in the fic.

1) Shouts out the fact that Janus is canonically a Dostoevsky fan

Chapter 4:

Janus smiled at him. "Where reason fails, the Devil helps." He fussed with his gloves and straightened his capelet. "It's showtime."

-I fucking love Crime and Punishment. Look at me. Look at me. I fucking love Crime and Punishment. Janus' quoting Raskolnikov serves multiple purposes:

2) Lampshades the fact that Roman just conveniently happened to be alone in the living room, because I didn't want to waste time getting him there. That makes me, the author, the Devil

3) Foreshadows the impending disaster. When Raskolnikov says this line it is because he had planned to commit axe murder. The axe he was planning to steal had been moved, but he finds another, different axe to use. Raskolnikov messes up the murder and ends up killing an innocent witness in addition to his intended target. Janus messes up his manipulation attempt and ends up murdering Roman's self esteem

-I was going to include a reference to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Remus' line "debauchery and vomit" was originally going to be "blood, love, and rhetoric") but I didn't because... Uh... Hm. Why didn't I do that. Maybe I just forgot about it???

-Roman is too stubborn to manipulate for long and that is a fact.

"I was pretty much done anyway," Remus said. "There's only so much debauchery and vomit you can fit into one story."

-Cade specifically ask me that nobody cry in this fic, but after I had Janus eviscerate Roman I knew he couldn't not cry a little. I kept it to a minimum because there's already a billion fucking fics about [literally any Side] crying on the shoulder of [literally any other Side] and it's really just not interesting to either of us.

-It didn't come up because it doesn't matter, but Thomas dreamed he was participating in the exact Dionysian orgy that took place in The Secret History because it's my fic and I said so.

Chapter 5:

He just sat back and watched and tugged at his hair while Janus spooned mound after mound of crisp white sugar into his mug and Virgil poured his customary eight fluid ounces of milk into his own mug.

-Cade strikes again. Virgil's coffee order is equal amounts milk to coffee; Janus' is equal parts sugar to coffee. He had asked me to include a scene where Roman catches Janus massacring his coffee and is appropriately horrified, but I uhh... Didn't write it. I still might include it as an omake someday.

-I imagine that Roman feels really strongly about dragons vs wyverns, and Remus just pretends to give a shit because he thinks it's funny to wind Roman up. Fortunately for me but unfortunately for my sense of realism in writing, I can't relate because I adore my sister and we get along perfectly almost 100% of the time.

"You shut us down every chance you get!" Remus said, baring his teeth. "How would you like it if your pens never wrote, hm? What would you do with all those thoughts in your head?"

-I do wish I had developed the concept of power focuses a bit more, established rules and such. Basically, Patton is always on the prowl for wrongthink and actively represses it, which in turn breaks or sabotages the Dark Sides' power focus.

Chapter 6: This chapter really should have been Janus and Roman but I was really tired and didn't want to bother with it. Plus, you know, Moceit. This chapter was meant to demonstrate how the characters would get along without Virgil nannying them. There's friction, but everyone is making a conscious, deliberate effort to get along because they love Virgil, and love is a series of choices you make.

I chose "Leo" as the answer for the answer to the crossword clue instead of "Virgo," because my other QPP is a Leo. She'll never read this fic, but I did it anyway because I love her. (Trivia: My sign is Virgo, so it was really a choice between shouting her out and shouting me out, and the last chapter is self-indulgent enough, thank you).

Chapter 7: I was gonna write a fic where all the Sides watched Cats the Musical because I was going through a phase. Then Cade requested this so I combined the two ideas. By this point I was fucking exhausted, and that's the only thing that saved you and the rest of the world from me writing the Sides riffing on the movie scene-by-scene. I could come up with snarky commentary for almost every, if not every single song from the movie.

Most notably, I cut a Patton-Remus interaction where Remus declares his love for Grizabella and Patton gets all staryy-eyed about Remus connecting with the idea of rising above rejection and being loved and accepted only for Remus to shoot him down and explain that he just likes that she got to die in a tire fire.

Other cut scenes include Janus quietly pretending not to go feral over Mister Mistoffelees, Patton full-on fucking sobbing over Grizabella and the kittens, and Logan experiencing a deep, soulful kinship with Munkustrap during Of The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollices (and henceforth introducing the phrase "like herding cats" into his regular vocabulary

[curiousconch]

Lions on the Prowl

Chapter 7 of Ricochet (An Open Heart AU)

Catch up here: Series Masterlist

Chapter Synopsis: Bryce and Rafael go on the hunt to unravel the sinister truth, hoping that what is revealed leads to Heather.

Pairing: Rafael Aveiro x MC (Dr. Heather Song) | Bryce Lahela x MC (Dr. Heather Song)

Words: 1.8k+ | Genre: Crime, Suspense/Thriller, Romance

Rating/Warnings: Mature (16+) / language, violence

Author's Notes: As promised, here's chapter 7. It has minor references to canon, but I did some tweaks to fit the overall storyline. Thank you so much for taking time to read this series. Please let me know if you want me to include/remove you in the tags list. Also, disclaimer: Majority of the characters are owned by Pixelberry, except the main character Heather Song and an OC Jordan Anderson.

Bryce slipped his phone into the pocket of his suit after his call with Rafael. He got into his car and punched the coordinates of his destination, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he waited for the GPS to load. Once he heard the first set of directions, he turned on the ignition and drove off. As the miles went by, he began to map out his strategy to interrogate the person who started it all - Travis Perry.

After half an hour, he was let into the maximum security facility. He went through the strict visitor SOP before he was led into a small room, devoid of anything cheerful. He tried his best to shake off the inherent thoughts he had about Heather's current situation, focusing instead at the matter at hand. Several minutes passed before he heard a click and the door opened, revealing a dank and skinny figure.

When Travis realized who was visiting, he rolled his eyes.

Bryce watched as he sat down while his handcuffs was hooked at a protruding hole in the center of the table. He waited for the guard to step outside before he leaned forward, switching into full-on lawyer mode.

"You better tell me what you know now, Perry."

Travis smirked, looking ominous.

"Desperate much, are you, ADA Lahela?" he leaned back, slouching. "Why come to me so early on in the game?"

The answer was easy, he was desperate. Every passing minute that Heather was missing reduces the possibility of finding her alive. He knew that much. And Bryce was willing to risk anything to see her breathing again. Even endangering his career or his dignity.

"You know very well why I'm here, Travis," his fingers ran up his blue tie, loosening it a little, hoping that he was playing his cards right. Bryce knew Perry's confidence came from the knowledge that he had nothing left to lose. He can't put him at fault though, his sentence were pretty much signed, sealed and delivered. However, the ADA didn't expect him to give up anything without a fight. He was the criminal who attempted to kill a senator, after all. So he came prepared.

Bryce shook his head, sneering back, a finger pressed lightly on his chin.

"Travis, Travis, Travis..." he stood up, circling around the prisoner like a lion on a prowl. "Aren't you forgetting something? I'm just a man who can offer you something that is going to be very hard to turn down," he stopped once he stood directly behind his prey. He then crouched down and leaned forward, his smug face inches away from Perry's. "So, you interested?"

Perry hissed, a look of disdain overcoming his previously confident composure.

"I thought so," Bryce smiled, satisfied. His work wasn't done yet though. He put the tips of his fingers together, pulling back so he can continue to prance around. It was the signature Lahela move.

This was a signal to anyone beyond enemy lines that Prosecutor Bryce got you in his grasp. That's why they call him magic hands.

"You better start talking then. Clock is ticking," he returned to stand opposite him, the palm of his hands pressed flatly on the metal table. "Well, that is, if you choose to cooperate."

The perp he worked laboriously to convict fell into a contemplative silence. Bryce watched intently, as Travis closed his eyes and took deep breaths before sitting back up, determined not to say a thing.

"I take it you don't want to talk then?" Bryce pursed his lips in an attempt of mockery. "Why? Suddenly grown a conscience after being caged for a few months? Wanna make Jonathan proud?"

At the mention of his younger brother, Perry abruptly stood up causing his chains to rattle against metal. He lost control, as he screamed to the young ADA's face.

When he lost his steam, Travis eventually backed down looking pleased with himself as he found Bryce's stunned expression.

"You will never catch him! Jordan is more cunning and more capable than any of you pieces of shit!" Travis roared, startling Bryce. "You're all just as worthless as that fucking senator! You think you're so different? Well guess what, you're all the same!"

For a few long moments, Bryce did seem like someone who just lost a battle. The convict sat down and pressed the button under the table to call in his escort. But before anyone came back in to get him, the cunning golden boy mimicked his movements and stared back at him.

"Well, thank you, for your kind assistance," Bryce said quietly as a guard entered and uncuffed Perry. Travis looked back at him, puzzled. He was ordered to stand up, and when he was about to leave the room, Bryce quirked a brow, his lips twisting into a smirk of a cheshire cat.

The mouse just fell into the trap.

"Jordan, huh? I wonder who that is."

Perry's face drained of all color. Bryce chortled in reply before he continued his celebratory address.

"And since you didn't agree on anything, I'll consider it an early holiday gift that doesn't need to be repaid," the lawyer brushed back his hair and stood up, straightening his dark grey suit. With a shrill scream, the heavy metal door closed upon Travis Perry's face, leaving Bryce alone in the room. He waited for a few moments, fixing his tie, then walked back out to the correctional's office.

One more thing before we're done here.

He requested for Perry's files, browsing through his phone records and visitor logs for the past 6 months. When he turned to the third page, he found exactly what he was looking for. Bingo. He fist bumped the air, then took pictures of the pages where he found the matching name. As he set out to collect the rest of his belongings, he quick dialed Rafael and reported his findings.

"We have a name," he walked back to his parked car and got in, turning the ignition on. "It's Jordan Anderson. Look for any records related to him and how he connects with Travis Perry, I'm coming over." he backed up the car out to the road and drove to town.

Hold on, Heather. We're coming for you.

***

Rafael reopened Perry's files for the tenth time since tonight after he ended his call with Bryce. It was a breakthrough, after hours of not being able find anything of value since the investigation started. The name didn't ring any bells, but he was confident he's going to find something. He had to.

Before he closed the file another time, he read a single phrase in the page about Travis Perry's family background. There it was listed:

Parents: Theodore Perry (Deceased), Jenny Perry (deceased)

Siblings: Jonathan Perry (deceased), foster brother (presumed alive, identity unknown)

He highlighted the two words - foster brother.

Is this him? Did we find the kidnapper?

He beckoned the agent beside him who was poring over Farrugia's phone logs. "Marshall, can you find out if Travis' parents took in kids for foster care?"

The agent nodded and opened the application for the National Foster Care directory. Raf watched as he browsed per county, directing him to a site containing Boston's list. Time seemed to slow down for Rafael as Agent Marshall typed in the parents names into the search criteria. He pressed enter, and together they watched the loading icon, as the app attempted to pull up any matching records.

After an excruciatingly long 10 minutes, the application displayed a single name: Jordan Anderson.

This was the solid lead they needed.

He directed half of his team to find anything they could regarding Jordan Anderson. One by one, they pooled in the data and eventually created the most accurate biography of the man who just became Boston's most wanted.

Raf asked for his image to be emailed to the IT guys to run facial recognition on surveillance footage around Edenbrook and Bryce's condo, marking it as urgent. He approached the whiteboard, and began to write a summary of what they knew so far:

JORDAN PETER ANDERSON

* Foster brother of Travis Perry

* Aged 29

* Last known address: Everett, MA

* Last known occupation: Maintenance Crew, Stintson and Co. Cleaning Agency

* Criminal records: Juvenile detention for Shoplifting, illegal drug use, stalking, trespassing

He also listed down the number of restraining orders issued against him, painting a picture of a long history of offenses and a troubled life. He read the accompanying material that they were able to dig in the last half hour and built a psychological profile of the suspect.

Several minutes after, ADA Lahela walked into the room. Bryce nodded to him, before perusing the bulleted points on the board. "This is good work," the prosecutor said.

Raf handed him some of the printouts, allowing him to make his own analysis. The special agent began to discuss his.

"He appears to have a close bond with his foster family, seeing that he didn't move out of Massachusetts. As to how much contact he had with Travis, we're uncertain yet," Rafael said.

With that, Bryce pulled up the pictures he took at the correctional facility. He showed it to Raf.

"There were several rows of the same number in the call logs starting a few months back, starting on the day Perry was transferred," Bryce pointed at the records in contention before proceeding. "So I trailed a pattern. I tried looking at the days when that same number didn't appear in the call logs and looked at the visitor records instead. The name Jordan Anderson came up every single time."

"We received a tip!" an agent stood up and approached the two conferring men, interrupting their discussion. "Apparently, Dr. Song called for a car to bring her to the airport this morning. The driver waited in front of ADA Lahela's complex and was about to leave when he saw a suspicious guy in an overall leaving a side entrance. He was carrying a black luggage bag and a woman who the driver thought as drunk. The woman matched her description."

They shared a look, prompting them into action. Rafael pulled up his phone to dial the surveillance room, but before he could, it pinged for an incoming email. It was from an anonymous sender. It contained a video file attachment. He tapped the play button.

It was a dash cam footage. The first few seconds were dim, but it wasn't long before a black car pulled up into the empty road. The vehicle stopped, a male figure emerged from the driver's seat. He opened the backseat door and there was Heather, limp and unconscious, being dragged by a man who shared the same face as the picture in the printouts. Both men's breathing hitched.

The video finished playing when they heard another ping. It was another email from the same sender. This time, it only contained a single line:

24th Avenue, Panacea Pharmaceutical Boston Tower.

"Panacea? Why does that sound familiar?" Bryce questioned, frowning.

"Panacea, as in the Panacea Labs?" the agent inputted, looking at each of them. "Panacea Labs partnered last year with Edenbrook and Mass Kenmore, prompting the construction of a new office downtown. But the company was shut down due to ethical and regulatory violations, halting the project. It was never finished."

"Can someone put up a recent image from 24th Avenue?"

Another agent walked up to them, showing his laptop screen.

There in the image was a faint sign, Construction Ongoing. Underneath it was the word Panacea.

Rafael raised his phone beside the computer, comparing the still frame from the video.

There it was, at the upper left side, the same sign and the same word.

At that moment, both men knew they were only scratching the surface. But they can deal with that later.

Right now, they knew where Heather was. And it's about damn time they get her back.

Taglist @ramsey-lahela @eleanorbloom @choicesficwriterscreations for Fics of the Week

[painfully-unoriginal]

Idk if this is *unbelievable* but when I was working retail some super white looking dude in a suit and holding a Starbucks cup came in and tried on a pair of really expensive shoes, said he couldn't buy them without his girlfriend and put them on hold. Then he comes back maybe 20 minutes later and says "you know, I really liked your customer service, are you looking for another job?"

Obviously this is weird and I tell him I'm only in town for the summer, but he starts telling me that he's with a company that works with "Disney and Sony" and some other big brands to connect people? It was super vague so I ask him what it's called and he totally dodges the question and just asks me if I'm interested. Now. What I tell you now makes me look super stupid but it's true. Idk it was mysterious and intriguing. But he asks for my number to call with his girlfriend and set up a meeting. I gave it to him, cuz I'm dumb apparantly? And I get a call a few days later from a woman saying she's his girlfriend to set up a time to meet. I say we meet in a Chapter's Starbucks (lots of witnesses).

When we meet it's the same dude and a lady and they have a flip board with like... JPEGs of rich people stuff on it and ask me about how business savvy I am and "don't you wanna be rich?", "We joined this company and now we're friends with a lot of rich people" and obviously this is a pyramid scheme and I am not interested but the wired thing is that I asked for the name of the company again and they still dodged the question. I don't think pyramid schemes usually so that? So idk who those people were but I asked around and lots of people prowl around malls and arrange meetings like this with young retail workers.

uhhh ya i dont think that was a pyramid scheme i’m ngl but thats ?? really scary??? please be careful im dead