#also this gives me an excuse to use prima more often which i love because i'm obsessed with him

[peace-hunter]

oh that's a great question!

this is gonna be a bit confusing because i hadn't really thought about it in depth until right now but! it depends on what prime you're asking about!

all of the primes were down in the well of all sparks with primus after their deaths, so generally they were only vaguely aware of what was going on the planet. nothing beyond "there isn't a war going on anymore, but the quintessons are still here and the energon has stopped flowing freely".

but. megatronus did have a more detailed knowledge of what was going on... because sentinel took his t-cog and with it a part of him. he couldn't manifest to him like he can with OP and his awareness was kind of limited (more of a vague feeling and the ocasional flash of sound and images) but it's still enough to paint a rough image of what is truly going on with their people.

and when alpha trio gave the squad prima's, micronus', onyx's and alchemist's t-cogs they also got that connection with them but a little bit stronger, to the point where they could actually tell what was going on most of the time. this is because unlike megatronus, they weren't revolted to their very core by the spark their cog had to meld with lmao

so. this does mean that as a whole all of them Know what happened after the cave. including megatron's breakdown. and the whole "accidentally getting shot by your best friend and then being very intentionally dropped to the core of the planet" fiasco. micronus and alchemist got a pretty good view of it, but onyx and prima have a visceral insight on it.

prima had already experienced what dying in betrayal felt like once. he's so terribly sorry this will be one more thing he and optimus will share with each other.

this also means that megatronus knew the moment sentinel was ripped in half and had one split second of being like "well at least i'm not stuck with that fragger anymore-OH C'MON!" before feeling his t-cog being taken by someone else. again.

he gets like five seconds of good connection before he realizes just who exactly took his t-cog and then he's back into violently rejecting it. he doesn't care if he gets shitty reception, he's not interested in any sort of bond with the mech who just murdered his best friend (and his new baby brother). it's not as bad as it was with sentinel but certainly nowhere near what the rest had described.

it's still enough for him to witness exactly what megatron does with his name and legacy though.

there is a reason he's the one that holds a grudge against megatron for the longest time out of all the primes

anyway! tldr: they sorta knew a little bit of what was going on, especially after the squad got some of their t-cogs, but they still need optimus to fully fill them in the details of everything before that.

also yes, micronus and alchemist do get to keep their connection with bee and elita even after they're bound to the matrix by primus. they cannot manifest to them as they do to optimus, but they can speak a little to them sometimes. they can also follow them around to a certain point.

so can megatronus with megatron. no one is happy about this.

I like the idea that the Matrix was said to contain "The wisdom of the Primes" and while it kind of DOES, what he actually got was the ability to commune with the Primes, and while everyone expects them to be a well of wisdom they're kind of just normal people and tell Optimus that Megatron's a glitch.

He's basically just got 13 older annoying siblings.

some times collective wisdom means knowing how to build and lead an entire army while restructuring your entire society after decades of oppression.

others it means knowing that mixing the cybertronian equivalent of vodka and tequila is a Stupid Idea and you will definitely regret it oh my god-

and being the youngest of fourteen sometimes means knowing that and doing it anyway lmao

but yeah that's basically it! that's kinda the point of the au! yeah they were wise and intelligent and almost divine but they were still people! and the concept of wisdom can be very subjective when there's thirteen of you and you have thousands if not millions of years of Opinions™ aklsjdlalds

haunted au

[words-writ-in-starlight]

some support about supports, for anyone who needs it

Okay, I have herein compiled a list of the lovely replies I got to my anxieties about wearing joint braces and my inexplicable guilt about it, which I am releasing into the wild for anyone else who might need a gentle friendly smack upside the head.  Cut for length, because apparently the human race is pretty good actually.

@editoress​ replied to your post “Dear Internet, how do I stop feeling pointlessly guilty about wearing...”

Announcement: you are now your own best friend. "My wrist hurts," your best friend says, your best beautiful friend whom you love, "but I'm not worthy to wear this wrist brace. I don't have an actual injury. I haven't earned it. And it looks weird." What do you tell your wonderful friend? Use those words for you

@zephyrantha​ replied:

I wear braces for any kind of pain. I have an elbow brace, wrist brace, and knee brace, and usually I put them on because “I had a little twinge and it’d feel better if it was braced. Mmyes this is good.” It literally never occured to me not to use a brace if not actually injured. That’s what splints are for. Braces are just for whatever.

@princesssarcastia​ replied:

well, braces aren’t just for injuries! They’re meant to brace things! If you think about it, in construction, braces aren’t something you put in after something breaks, they’re something that gets put in to keep things in place. it’s the same principle with people. your brace is there to keep your stuff in place while you do things

@turbovicki​ replied:

I wear a brace every night bc it helps keep my tendinitis from coming back! It will come back anyways if I’m not careful with my hand, but it happens way less often if I’ve been wearing my brace.

@littlestartopaz replied:

I saw this late and I’m glad an army of people have been giving you support and kind words, cuz you deserve it. Wearing something to prevent you from getting injured isn’t dumb, it’s smart. Like wearing your seatbelt. You know something bad is gonna happen if you don’t wear the brace, so be smart and wear it when you need to.

@mairesmith​ replied:

I’ve been thinking about your initial post for a while. I’ve finally remembered my truck for self-care. I have trouble looking after myself because I don’t want to be a prima donna about it. But if what I’m doing is setting a good social norm for others, I’m much better at it. It’s maybe not quite healthy, but it might help you feel better about looking after yourself proactively if your head works similarly to mine.

@storieswritteninthesand​ replied:

preventative bracing is a thing! i never play netball without ankle braces, not because my ankles are currently injured, but to prevent sprains and reduce their severity. Frankly, anyone who doesn’t tape or brace their ankles for netball at my standard is the exception, because why invite trouble? This is, in essence, the same thing. Your brace will provide additional support to prevent or reduce severity of injury.

ideally, you don’t want to wear it 24/7 unless you want to be wearing it 24/7 for the rest of your life, to allow the muscles etc to stay in practice (i don’t know enough to comment on the eds context), but for anything that is MORE LIKELY to be a problem (like ‘today my joints are loose and i am Carrying Things’) preventative bracing is GOOD.

(and fwiw it would never occur to me to consider whether someone wearing a brace was ~worthy of wearing one~)

(This was also an extremely astute read about feelings of “I’m not allowed to wear this thing because I’m not hurt/sick enough” so like points for that one.)

@aethersea​ replied:

‘too young to wear an exoskeleton’ excuse me how can anyone EVER be the wrong age for a shiny exoskeleton, clickety clack like the next, insectoid stage in our natural evolution

also maybe you’re being dramatic but like. live for the drama. be a drama queen. not only have you and all the ppl in the notes made excellent points about how preventative care is infinitely better for everyone involved, but also: who would benefit from you being, as it were, less dramatic? nobody. whereas wearing your braces not only makes things easier for those who care about you, but also allows random kids who see you on the street to

be delighted by your shiny metal accoutrements.

seriously though, be a drama queen. make oscar wilde proud. in the end we answer to no one but those whose respect we crave, and no one worthy of that would think less of you for taking care of yourself

(Way to plug directly into my deepest id that just craves dressing like Freddie Mercury as a back-door hack to self-care, Finx, ily.)

[doodlewash]

Hi there, fellow sketchbook & watercolor lovers! Such an honor & treat to be hosted here by Charlie! I’m Volta Voloshin-Smith, the artist behind Color Snack, and I come from a tiny country called Moldova in Eastern Europe (follow me on Instagram and Facebook!). I immigrated to the states in 2002 and currently reside in Dallas, Texas with my husband and rambunctious cat.

While I never pursued art professionally, it has always been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Even as a young kid, I was into drawing and making some sort of art, from drawing the Sailor Moon character to the Powerpuff Girls to gluing shiny cutouts from magazines into my brightly colored notebooks.

I would repurpose into sketchbooks whatever I could find around the house, including my father’s old PhD dissertation, works that had text on one side and were invitingly blank on the other (nicely bound works of genius math theorems that just begged to be turned into sketchbooks for my art).

It’s funny how impressionable we are as kids growing up, and where (art) teachers can have such an impact on whether or not we pursue a creative endeavor. My first encounter with watercolors was through an art project in high school where we had to draw a landscape in a 1-tone color. I was so utterly bored and frustrated that I proclaimed to the world that I’ll never use this terrible medium ever again!

Fast forward to about 7 or so years later, and I picked up a set of watercolors on a whim (at a TJ Maxx of all places) and started painting on 3 by 5 index cards (I had those laying around conveniently as I was using them to study for the GMAT to get into an MBA program). I had a whole thing going of using the watercolors more like an acrylic medium (less water, more pigment) so that they would look decent on the index cards (my project even had its own site and name – NoteCard Poetry).

Because I did get into business school, I had to briefly abandon my artistic endeavors and focus on adulting. However, I soon discovered the amazing community on Instagram and re-started my journey into watercolor once more, but with a more serious focus on really exploring what the medium has to offer.

By far, my most favorite thing about watercolors is how calming it is to paint with it. Water has such a nice calming quality to it and by just doing a simple watercolor wash and watching the colors work their way is just so peaceful to me. I like to bring my watercolors to various work places (corporate & agencies) where I have watercolor lunches with my co-workers. It is such a nice way to break up the work day and relax away from the computer screen. And, of course, it gives me utter excitement to be able to share this wonderful medium with people in hopes they rediscover the joy for art they once had as children. After all, watercolors are just so good for the heart and soul.

I think index cards are a wonderful (no-excuses) way of jumping into the medium, but I do agree that paper also matters to truly see what watercolors can do. I love researching sketchbooks (current favorites include Leuchturm1917 and Stillman & Birn Alpha)  and trying out different types of watercolor palettes. I have an uncontrollable obsession with finding beautiful containers which I can then fill with my own watercolor pans. Despite me having a dedicated studio space, you can find my art supplies all over the house (guilty as charged).

And while there can be another explanation for this, I stand by the fact that seeing my watercolor palettes out in the open I am more likely to stick to my habit of constantly sketching and creating. And besides, art is supposed to be messy (and adulting is so boring). My all-time favorite tools to use are a Lamy Safari fountain pen (extra fine nib is better for detailing) with waterproof ink and a watercolor palette that I can easily fit in my pocket (usually self assembled with Sennelier or Mijello Mission Gold watercolors or an already made one like the Prima Marketing Watercolors).

I love sketching veggies and fruits (and donuts and tacos since I’m in Texas) because they are delicious and can be so colorful! Flowers are beautiful too and I’ve often made purchasing decisions based on what I would like to sketch. I also like including positive messages and so lettering is becoming a prominent part of my art. 

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I constantly aim to get more people addicted to watercolors and so to help with that I started a weekly 1-minute process and tutorial video of different objects (#ColorSnackSunday). I call them little color snacks for your brain that are easy to jump into no matter how busy your day can get. I mostly hang out on Instagram, but you can also find me at the other links below. 

Volta Voloshin-Smith Blog Instagram Facebook Snapchat: colorsnack

GUEST ARTIST: Color Snacks For Your Soul by Volta Voloshin-Smith - #WorldWatercolorGroup #art Hi there, fellow sketchbook & watercolor lovers! Such an honor & treat to be hosted here by Charlie!