#and there are two more bots i didn't catch in this shot

[littleladymab]

Ladies please, not all at once!!!!

I haven't figured out how to block you on mobile and I've not been on my desktop please!!

[quixotical-lymbo]

OMG I LOVED YOU ORION PAX FIC (this bot needs more love) can you do an Orion pax x reader, but it’s the reader’s reaction to Orion falling in that hole thingy? (yk at the end of the movie that D-16 dropped him in) like does

1. the reader goes crazy and bets up D-16 ?

2. jumps in after him?

3. cries and says "HE WAS MY FUTURE"

I need to knowwwww (also take some food bc i know you cooking with your fics 🍎🥐🥯🍔🍗🍟🌯🌮) TYY

Pairing: Orion Pax/Optimus Prime x gn!Reader Rating: SFW Summary: What happens when a bot witnesses their conjunx endura die in front of their eyes?  Warnings/Tags: Transformers One SPOILERS, guard!reader, cybertronian reader, mild descriptions of violence. Word Count: 1300+ words 

The first time you met Orion Pax was a blurry moment of rushing figures and yelling. This red and blue bot had a reputation, but you didn't know his designation at the time where you first started your job as a guard. 

Well, you certainly knew all about him, especially after your first run in with the troublemaker making his grand exit through a balcony. Of course, you just had to be making your rounds flying around the perimeter of the building when you were tackled out of the sky and pinned against the rooftop of the neighboring building. Groaning as the mech on top of you sputtered a flurry of apologies. The mech ran away without even offering a servo to help you up. 

The second time the two of you met, you learned his designation from the gossip about a miner always sneaking in and out of government buildings which held old records. You connected the name to the face of the mech you ran into again when patrolling indoors. 

It was…a unique exchange of pleasantries as Orion Pax attempted to sway you out of sounding the alarm. His attempts at distracting you with those flirty glances and sweet words did nothing to stop you from cuffing him and bringing him back to his station.

Over the deca-cycle, the interactions between you two grew warmer as the forced proximity bred an intimacy between you two. 

A conjunx ritus later and the two of you were an odd couple in the optics of Iacon. 

All because you managed to 'catch' the mech of who stole your spark. 

So why couldn't you save your conjunx when he needed you the most? 

It all happened too fast for your mind to react in time, but your frame moved before you could even scream the name out of your conjunx as his battered form dropped into the pit. You rushed forward, cables feeling like they were on fire as you reached a servo out in hopes of grabbing hold of something. Yet, you were too late and Orion was swallowed by the abyss right as something grasped your arms and yanked you away from the edge. 

You struggled to throw them off of you, blurred edges of your vision and the muffled shouts of your name didn't stop you from trying to fly down there—it didn't matter whether or not your spark would extinguish in the process. All that mattered was finding Orion Pax, your best friend, your companion, your everything. 

A voice heavy with grief managed to snap you out of your haze. You glanced over to meet Elita's optics, her face twisted with a pitying look that nearly sent you over the edge–metaphorically and literally. 

"The age of primes has ended....no more false prophets, follow me and you will never again be deceived!"

Cheers broke out from the high guards scattered within the shocked crowd of Iacon's citizens. 

"I will lead us all into the future!" Megatron opened his chassis and replaced the cog in his chest with Megatronus's cog. Purple electrical sparks emitted from his frame as his body transformed into a bulkier form.

"I…am…MEGATRON!" 

"Burn it down…all of it!"

Shots fired from the crowd as Megatron began shooting at the Sentinel statue and the structures surrounding it. 

 

"He's going to kill everyone." 

"We have to stop him-" Elita-1 was cut off as your form rushed past her and headed for the silver mech. Bee and Elita-1 glanced at each other before nodding and hastening after you. 

As Megatron continued shooting his cannon, a pede slammed into the side of his helm knocking him onto his knees. Megatron whipped around to find your fist heading toward his faceplate, he dodged and managed to grab your wrist in time to swing you around like a rag doll. 

Despite having a cog all this time, your frame was still shorter compared to Megatron's—but that didn't make you any less of a fighter. 

"You took him away from me! Your own best friend!" You bellowed and wrapped your legs around his arm to twist out of his grip. You swung your body weight to shift behind him and pummel him in punches. 

"He was your friend! My conjunx…my future….mine!" You grunted as Megatron ripped you off and threw you away. You rolled onto your servos and knees before jumping aside before the energy blast could hit you. The weight of losing Orion hit you all at once as you realized you had just rolled near the place where D-16…Megatron had dropped him. Your optics dimmed as your vision blurred from the rising dust and smoke. Your helm dropped and you couldn't see the massive cannon pointing at your pathetic form. 

"I took down the only thing standing in my way," Megatron sneered. The purr of his weapon charging up became a roar as the light within readied to snuff your spark. "And now? I will make sure you join him along with the rest who stand against me." 

"Not if we have anything to do about that!" Elita-1 charged in and snatched the cannon in time to redirect the shot elsewhere. 

A fight ensued and a multitude of thoughts ran through your processor. Your distraught and grief melded your frame into the floor. The noises and smell of destruction around you all blurred into one as you curled into a ball, wishing to disappear into the same abyss your conjunx had dropped in. 

After all, why continue this seemingly never ending cycle of injustice without the bot who made life worth living? 

No, Orion wouldn't have wanted you to think that way. Nor would have sat there wallowing in his own misery if your spark had stopped beating. He would've fought for you and you…will do the same.

Slamming your clenched servos into the ground you shot up and barreled toward the fight. Snarling as you drew closer and pounced onto Megatron just as he kicked Bee away. Before anyone on the tower could react, something exploded a piece of it and shot up into the sky. 

 

Amidst the chaos, you, Bee, and Elita-1 slid off the dome and landed on the lower platform again. 

Snapping your gaze up you found an familiar yet strange mech donning a similar color scheme to Orion standing before Megatron. 

 

"It can't be…" Bee began.

"It is." Elita-1 finished with wide optics. 

"Orion?" You whispered. 

 

He was alive. Alive. 

 

He was…different. 

 

…he wasn't dead and that's the important part. 

When all was said and done, Megatron was banished from Iacon and Energon returned to Cybertron, cogs being returned to the cogless citizens, you were finally able to have a moment alone with your conjunx now named Optimus Prime. 

His optics shone brightly as they landed on your faceplate. He turned to you fully and stretched his arm to reach you. You eagerly leaned into the palm of his servo, cheek pressing against the warmth of his hold on you. The faint hum of his spark calmed the raging storm within you, allowing your tense cables to ease up. 

"You've…changed." You sighed as you blinked back the liquid in your optics. 

"...so have you," Optimus craned his helm down to hold your gaze. "Come, we have a lot of things to discuss." 

You interlocked your digits with his, reluctant to drift away from him, but his softening gaze and even softer words persuaded you to let go. 

Trailing after the three but sticking close to Optimus's side, you nearly tripped over your own pedes as you felt the weight of his love through the bond. Keeping your expression neutral, you smiled inwardly and returned his affections tenfold. 

Primus, you were happy he was alive. 

😼 - I do not give permission for anyone to translate, copy, republish, or plagiarize any of my written works. I provide no permission for any of my literary works to be used in artificial intelligence. banner(s) by @enchanthings !!

[eilaafterhours]

Patience [Grim | Casper]

Content: AFAB Reader, Light Dom/Sub, Blindfolds, Restraints, Men Crying, Cowgirl Position, Pet Names, POV Second Person, Reader-Insert

Pronouns: None (AFAB)

Reblogs: Let me know that you enjoy my work and want to see more, so don’t forget to like and reblog (and comment in the tags. I love seeing people’s rambles in the tags)!

Remember: I’ll block you if I catch your ageless or under age (not 18+) ass in my activity :)

This work’s concepts, plot and original characters are my own which means I do not allow any sort of creative theft nor do I allow my work to be entered into any sort of A.I. bots. Thank you for respecting my space and boundaries.

"How...how much longer must I remain like...this?"

The two of you had gotten into an argument about patience. He made the proclamation that he was leagues more patient than you, and instead of refuting him, you instead offered a challenge.  

You turned your attention to your partner, smiling at his flushed features. 

He was on your bed, spread wide on his knees. His arms were bound behind his back, and a blindfold hid his gaze. His entire body was coated in a thin layer of sweat, certain parts of his body flushed beautifully red.

Especially the head of his weeping cock.

You swiped the creamy slick away with your thumb, relishing in the way his hips bucked. 

"Ah, so needy..." You rested your clean hand on his cheek, "Open."

He did as he was told. Tilting his head up a bit, tongue lolling out. You placed your thumb on his tongue, and he closed around it immediately, sucking it clean.

"You cleaned it so good." You ran a hand through his hair, removing the blindfold in the process. "Hi there, pretty boy."

"S-sunshine..." His eyelids fluttered close, a curtain of white standing out against the deep red on his checks. "Please."

"Has your patience run thin, Casper?" His teeth caught his bottom lip, "Do you want me to help you?"

You moved to straddle him, sighing through your nose as the weight of his heavy cock settled against your stomach. 

The contact made him squirm a bit, "Ah—un...!"

You wedged your hand between your bodies, wrapping it firmly around his shaft. "Should I let you fuck my hand like this?" 

"Mmm..." You were sure that he was getting caught up in the fantasy, not even realizing that he had begun fucking your hand. 

You let him go for a bit, letting his moans go from soft and airy to restrained and from his throat. 

He was so close. 

You gave him a firm squeeze. 

He stopped moving. 

"So you're the only one who can get off? Naughty boy."

"I'm—fuck—sorry!" Tears slipped down his cheeks. 

"Ah, I've gone too far." You kissed them away. "And you've done so good for me."

He finally opened his eyes to look at you, "Have I?"

You nodded, giving him a soft kiss. "And now it's time for your reward."

You lifted your hips, lining yourself up, then lowered yourself on his cock. Both of you threw your heads back at the sudden heat and fullness. 

Very quickly did the two of you lose yourselves in the chase for ecstasy. He didn't last very long, but that didn't matter because the look on his face and the feeling of his cum filling you, being pushed in and out of you from you bouncing on his dick had you barreling into your own release. 

Once you had caught your breath, you undid the binds from around his arms. You squeaked as they immediately found your waist, dragging you down with him as he let his body go to exhaustion. You let him, resting your head on his chest as his chin nestled on the top of your head.

"So...who's got more patience than whom?" You asked.

"...I'd say it's a tie."

You shot up. "How is it a tie?"

"I may have been tested, but as the proctor, you gave into your lust and came very shortly after me." He smirked.

"Well, I wasn't being tested, so it doesn't matter."

"It does."

"Does not!"

"It does."

And it went like that for a short while longer until the sticky feeling between your legs became too uncomfortable and a bath was more important than who was right. 

Oh well, you'd just have to test him again. 

:)

I don't have much to say, actually. This is my comeback, and it's in a new fandom, um….yeah.

Welp, enjoy!

Masterlist

[artzzyb00-27]

{💙Secret Admirer💙}

Taken from your family and brought up in a place you loathed was something screwed up. Even more so when you're experimented on to explore your "potential" in their eyes. That's how it was for reader, taken from Earth with a portal and raised by the Krang in attempt to create a weapon for mass conquer and destruction was torture.

Even more so when she got to age limit of training and was sent to Earth after the attempted invasion to try again. Secretly lightly sabotaging her "families" efforts at opportunity. It became greater with the turtles appearing in her life. She found them interesting, being in the near vicinity made her feel like she wasn't abnormal due to having powers that her captors gave her.

Every time they showed up to decipher the Krang's plans, she'd leave clues blatantly out, but not so obvious for them to get suspicious. After some watching from afar, she could tell that the one baring katanas and wearing blue as his color palette was the one giving orders. Drawing interest towards him from reader.

A few instances and being at the same place at the same time without interacting turned into her rescuing his shell any chance she could. It became scary how easily he got distracted and got his ass kicked. So using the very thing that made her a villain in anyone else eyes, she started turning the tide in favor of the turtles.

At some point after continuing to aide the guys, they realized their success wasn't just luck anymore. Specifically Leo's luck. One time when fighting some Foot Soldiers, they managed to get the slip on Leo, literally, and had him falling of a building. Instead of landing hard and cracking his shell, he slowed down in the air and landed on his feet without injury. Another incident was an attempted ambush on the Foot Soldiers trying to steal supplies at the docks and they knocked Leo out getting him kidnapped.

When his brothers couldn't reach him in time, the truck with an unconscious Leo began to drive away before it was shot at the tire, causing it to flip and have Leo fly out. After returning to the lair the brothers had tried to look through nearby security cameras to find the source of the blast. No chance. Cameras were already altered as if the altercation never happened.

Which only confirmed their believes that someone was helping. How it occurred, they didn't know. Till this point they've never seen magic before, or other mutants with powers so at first they believed it to be technologically advanced assistance. Like anti-gravitational beam guns, or biotech from afar.

When Leo was almost killed by a Foot Soldier catching him off guard, stopping mid-air floating with a katana aimed for Leo's throat and sent flying the opposite direction, Raph reached his limit.

"We can't pretend like that didn't happen!"

"I know Raph, but what do you want to do? Call 'em up and say, 'Hey, thanks for saving me! Also who are you?'" Rolling his eyes and trying to walk away from the conversation. Of all people to not be complaining about the help, Leo was not expected to be the one to act like this. Typically he'd be confrontational right away if it was happening to any other of his brothers.

"Hypocrite." That made the leader freeze. With the other two siblings hold their breathes. "If it was Mikey, you'd be begging Don' to help you investigate whoever was causing this to happen. Why is it so easy for you to ignore your own safety." With a hard sigh, Leo turned around with his head up and eyes closed.

"Fine. Let's find out who this person is." After some discussing, they came up with a plan. Donnie had been developing holo-bots. Helpful for training, and in-combat fighting against enemies. Using an AI design page that he pirated(as if he was spending 30$) he was able to make the holo-bots look like foot soldiers.

After some further detail fining, they set up the "ambush" of Foot Soldiers on turtle leader. And like planned, mystery hero showed up. Or more accurately, mystery heroine. When one of the holo-bots "cut" Leo's leg and he made a convincing groan of pain, reader leapt down and activated her powers. Before blowing them up though, they dissipated back to their mini-portable computers and Leo's injury was revealed fake.

When she finally realized he was examining her with intensity, she thought he was judging her or planning on how to attack. So being reasonable, she turned to flea but ended up being surrounded by the others. At an attempt to try and keep running, Raph pinned her cloak to a metal pole with his Sai.

"Why do you always keep saving my brother? Why you so keen on keeping him safe? Who the hell even are you?" As Raph continued getting closer, reader began zoning out and have and anxiety attack. Until Mikey makes his brother back up and helps reader calm down.

"You okay there?" With a swift nod, Mikey smiled and she gave small one back.

'At least Mikey can get through to her. Better him than any of us three.' Leo thought internally.

"I'm really sorry for our brothers behavior. We don't have a lot of friends so he's really used to being abrasive like he is with us." Reader smiled and took the Sai of her cloak.

"It's alright, I understand. I'm the same way sometimes believe it or not." She said giving Raph his weapon back, receiving a quiet apology in return.

Still silent Leo continued observing her, trying to find any malice that could be hidden. But there wasn't. This girl was genuine with her actions.

"My name is Reader. I save Leo because one I know how much you need him, and two, I recognize a kind spirit when I see one. He's worthy of saving. As are all of you, but you're brother is quiet clumsy."

With embarrassment, Leo tries to ignore the smirks on his brother's faces and talk to the girl who had been saving his life.

"Thank you, I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't wanted to save me. I hope you continue to assist us in the future." With a slight nod she gave Donnie her contact information while continuing to explain.

"I came from Earth, but the Krang took me a long time ago. Experimented on me till I turned eighteen and was sent during the attempted invasion. I'm not helping them or the Foot though, I only pretend so they don't bother me. In turn I sabotage what I can and make sure I don't get caught." Admirable, cool, smart, powerful, kind-hearted. Smitten. Leo's smitten. Does he advance it? No, he'd make Raph leader first. But god, was she attractive on all his boxes.

"Hello? Are you there?" Reader asked concerned, oblivious to what was happening. Leo tried stumbling out an apology till Mikey's laughter interrupted him. Which gained him ten laps for later. "Alright, well I need to get going. Before the Foot Clan gets suspicious and all. Byyyyyyye!!"

Using her powers to fly-jump far away and continue racing through rooftops quickly, Leo just smiled at her using her purple essence to navigate her own way. Hearing a cough he turned to look at his brothers who were smirking in amusement.

"Gimme that contact Donnie. Donnie, Donnie! Give it to me!" He continued to yell chasing after his brother who was laughing(chortling) his ass off. Raph and Mikey followed after them laughing to.

After that, for a while she did keep in touch. Would hang out at night and brought pizza sometimes for them to eat but at one point she just disappeared. Obviously, it didn't make sense. Especially when trying to message her, the phone auto sent with a notice that the phone number was out of service. A couple months passed and the brother's assumed she was sent back to Dimension-X1416.(Get the reference?)

Leo was hit the hardest, especially with little to no fights during the time she was gone. The lair been more quiet and Leo couldn't handle it anymore, so he left the lair for a bit to clear his mind. Receiving looks from his family.

When on top of the Guggenheim Museum watching city lights from afar he sighed out.

"Something on your mind, turtle boy?" That voice. Turning his head in surprise, Reader stood their with an upgraded version of her old battle outfit. It was mixed with casual clothing like purple Jordans and fingerless gloves. Smiling hard Leo got up and raced over to her.

"Holy shit!" he yelled and swooped her into a hug and spun around a bit. With her laughing as well. Setting her down, he got a good look on her. She gained a few new scars but minor ones. One the went over her nose and another up her neck.

"What's with the look?"

"You were gone for months without telling us. What happened?" Shrugging she walked near the edge took a deep breathe. Leo went over to her just enough so people below wouldn't see him.

"Foot Clan moved to Japan to gain equipment for something. Since the fight was moving over, I had to leave. And I wanted to make sure they didn't grow suspicious of me being on the phone constantly, due to a certain cute mutant turtle with a blue bandana was texting me 'Good morning' messages." Getting embarrassed at her rant/scolding/flirty statement, Leo rubbed the back of his neck laughing softly.

"I mean why do you think I saved you? Yeah I wanted to help but, there's are multiple reasons why I mainly saved you compared to your brothers." Again getting more hot under his skin Leo smirked and looked up.

"Glad to know the magical sparks mutual huh?"

"Don't push it."

[sonkitty]

The Sideburns Scheme Post #1 v3

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

This post was last updated 08/03/2024.

Take it all in.

Treasure it for all that it is.

Because you will never see this hairstyle this clearly on Crowley ever again, not even from different angles...unless there's a treat waiting for us in season 3. But otherwise, no, that's all we get of this gorgeous, gorgeous shot.

...

Sideburn Check

Before we see Crowley pull that newspaper down, we are given a profile view of his right side of his face and can see his right sideburn. This sideburn looks short but is a little longer than the shortness we'll eventually see is the intended shortness after driving the car for a long enough time.

Let's take a look:

Wow, that is really hard to tell, but I'm still going to go with thinking it is little longer.

So, why is it a little longer in this human space that is the park?

Theoretically, it's a combination of factors that add up to Crowley making that newspaper his own personal door to manage his own personal space. I'll cover that more in the Earthly Objects section. It might also help that this human space is a more familiar one to him.

Two characters are going to show up, at different times, and there will be no interaction from him to them until he has deliberately pulled the newspaper down from his face. That is to say, he passes through his designated threshold to talk to them.

Once the newspaper goes down, we'll see the sideburns some more. They will look similar in length. It's hard to be sure due to the angles and expressions on his face.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

In our initial view of Crowley, we can't see the streak. Once the newspaper goes down, it will become evident. That means we have to be suspicious of the fact that we didn't get to see it at the start of the scene because this story lies. Repeatedly. Something is amiss with its chronology. There is possibly a book somewhere in here and a lot of games messing with our heads.

There is a weird blocking and blurring thing happening all the time in GO2, and it's really overt in this scene. Basically, Crowley's right profile view from the side of the bench is going to just keep being blurry, so that we still can't really see the streak in those particular shots.

Otherwise, on the more clear front or other angled shots, it's more clear the brighter red streak is there.

Hairstyle Changes

Crowley's hairstyle changes frequently during GO2. It will even change in really subtle ways during scenes, such that I simply cannot catch every style. The style when Crowley pulls down the newspaper for the first time is actually something like in between the first shot we see with the profile view and then another shot after it when Shax arrives. You probably won't catch that if you aren't trying. I missed it when I was first studying this stuff some months ago.

Far more subtle, and admittedly iffy—I could just be seeing what I want to see—but to me, it looks like the initial right profile shot has a more obvious gradient. The hair towards the bottom matches his season 1 color better and gets brighter up until the top. The after-pushing-newspaper-down style has a gradient, but there is even less of the season 1 color on the bottom area, as if the hair itself is transforming into its new season 2 state. Here's a comparison view if you wish to decide for yourself:

Here's the original collection I made from this scene before realizing the first style at least is different:

Now with streaks indicators too:

So with all of the above in mind, I reached the following conclusions back when first trying to figure out the hair generally...

(1) Crowley's hair is now a brighter red than season 1, including season 1 present day and season 1 flashbacks.

(2) There is yet an even brighter, more saturated, streak of red hair above his left eye.

(3) His sideburns are longer than they were in season 1. At this point, we have no comparison to season 2 present day, but they are going to get both longer and shorter than what is seen here in this same episode.

(4) In this scene, the hair is lighter and more saturated on his left side; it is darker on his right side. For episode 1 at least, in my past notes, that was standard for most of it.

(5) I can't tell you what the top style is telling us about Crowley's mood, but it does seem to do that, at least sometimes. I'll point out if I think I notice it at times later.

(6) The left sideburn does not have as much hair as the right sideburn. Just as the color of the hair is lighter on the left, it seems the left sideburn is supposed to be "lighter" than the right through that way. That seems to be the more frequent way these things work, but it does sometimes switch.

...

Earthly Objects

For Earthly Objects, one of the reasons "earthly" is specified in the name of the game is touches can depend on how an object is used on Earth, instead of just limiting things to tangible objects and physical touches. For example, looking through a window is an earthly object touch because people look through windows to see things on Earth.

Next, I am going to talk about pockets, so this part is going to get ridiculous. You might want to skip down to the next "..." if my saying the newspaper is like a personal little door for Crowley was enough. My understanding of pockets is limited, but I'll share that limited understanding nonetheless.

Before we get to a lovely right profile view of Crowley, there's lens flare rainbow stuff!

Pockets love rainbows combined with Crowley. We can blame Elvis Presley and his song, "A Pocketful of Rainbows". The most noticeable and seemingly official rainbow, in my opinion, is the one right before Crowley himself appears in the cut. I have indeed, checked frame by frame, to see that technically it has not fully disappeared once Crowley himself is visible. It's really close though!

Okay, back to when we get a closer view of Crowley on his initial profile view.

Crowley has his back to the bench. He has his elbow on the arm rest. He has his line of sight directed at the newspaper as if reading it. Those are 3 possible earthly object touches right there. Crowley is holding the back of the newspaper with only two visible fingers. They are the index finger and the middle finger. Only the index finger is showing its tip. That's not enough to receive credit for touching the newspaper physically as an earthly object yet. He'll get that later, when he wants it done. The other two partly visible fingers on the front are probably significant as well.

For the record, I do not like talking about the pockets as frequently or to the extent that I do. I talk about them because I've noticed they are important. They irk me because they are the hardest part of these games for me, at the present moment. I am downright incapable of solving The Pocket Trick to my own satisfaction. A key mechanic in that Trick is the use of word play. Another is to use one's imagination.

One of the first things to know here about Crowley's super advanced play in Earthly Objects and pockets is that his tie strands are connected to his hands because they are his Tied Hands. It's actually really funny when it sinks in, but it does make the game so, so hard. These silly cute Tied Hands have thumbs. The thumbs are the tassels, so the tips of those tassels are the thumb tips.

Thumb tips matter for Door Mode.

Due to Crowley's posture, there is a pocket between his right arm and the bench itself. His right jacket sleeve is open enough that there is yet another evident pocket existing between his shirt sleeve and his jacket sleeve. This pocket is the key one of interest to me because the newspaper touches it. Even so, there is still another pocket formed between the newspaper, Crowley's right hand, and his clothing that the newspaper touches so long as a breeze isn't messing with it.

Those tassel tips I mentioned earlier...are on his pants. That's why I'm spending so much time on this part by the way. There's some metal thing sticking out that only ever sticks out here touching the vest. The belt is his Belt Head, which the vest does like to touch at other times. So, if this metal is somehow the buckle from the belt—since I can't see it being the tie or anything else, that's probably supposed to be its "tongue" while the other visible part of the snake on the belt is pocketed between the vest tips.

Update 08/03/2024: After going over this scene thoroughly months later, I can now see this metal thing is probably the lower metal part of the clasp for this strand. It's so hard to tell with the lighting and the tassel sticking out from it. The tassel could be bunched together then hidden behind the vest, then peeking out again. Here is a color-coded image of this possibility:

The red would be the metal parts of the clasp. The green would be the tassel. The black is the vest near this area. The part between the red that is not color-coded is some small extra part that connects these metal parts. I've also lowered the opacity on the overall screenshot. The color-coded parts are layered over it. I'm honestly still not sure this setup is exactly as I speculate; it just seems the more likely scenario at this point, after months of studying these scenes. For reference, here is another image of what the clasps and tassels look like from the front as I tried to figure out the possibility with lighting and angles.

End update.

Based on how the game plays itself, the Belt Head is helping the Tied Hands in ways beyond my comprehension, so Crowley can take advantage of pockets. What? Do they need belt assistance to be tied because he's sitting down and the watch is not on screen? Somewhere in here is Door Mode on the clothing, channeling its way through pocket imagination powers, so that all of the apparel can work together and give Crowley his newspaper door.

Apparently, this method requires the watch to not be visibly on screen for now. I really want to know what the watch's job is for silly pocket mechanics.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Check out the self-made pocket of hair since we have an active Belt Head messing with things:

Yeah, sure, could be nothing, but The Pocket Trick is really, really intentional about these types of things, and even though this scene is not one of the touches in The Pocket Trick, pockets are still relevant. I mainly suspect such things because of those tassel tips.

Even some of his hair is pocketing the collar of his jacket. The profile shot is so precise, none of the left part of his sunglasses can be seen.

While we're at it, Crowley's sitting really still. He'll be standing really still later in episode 6 with a more obvious pocket touch for The Door Trick. Said Trick is another big part of why I'm noting so much about the pockets by the way. It also has a self-made pocket of hair visible in the first cut.

Update 08/03/2024: I have gone over this scene cut by cut with a long list of what to look for in my attempt to figure out how retying works. Because of how I progress in the puzzles over time and for simplicity's sake, I am not going to give every painstaking detail here. I will say that if my notes are correct, the tying sequence goes something like the following. The Tied Hands are tied 8 times during this entire scene. They also switch which hand they are connected to 3 of those times. He uses reflection connections and Shax's lapels to make these switches. More can be found in visual form here: Park Reflections. I have long suspected retying is required for crossing every threshold but been unable to recognize them because one of its key clues is a "joint" or a "hinge". The obvious such key is the one I've looked for of a metal part of a clasp striking a lapel edge. Well, it doesn't have to be just that. An actual thumb joint, especially Crowley's left thumb CMC joint, can accomplish this same task. For instance, here at the park, the left thumb CMC joint presumably qualifies as at the edge of the newspaper in the opening back shot of Crowley. Even though it's not clear at first glance due to the distance, I can take in numerous other clues of the scene, such as the large reflections in the lake and the rainbow that tying is already done. If I zoom, I can then find the face of the watch and a very good guess at where the left thumb CMC joint is. I still can't confirm retying happens for crossing every threshold, but current studies suggest it is likely or will have some further puzzles where I'm supposed to figure out the method in use or why it might be exempt. The below notes will remark on things I noticed about the tying, the connections, and the reflections, without quite getting the full process in motion because I did not break down the scene cut by cut with extensive notes to myself to figure out such things back when this post was first published. End update.

Okay, that's enough about pockets. Finally! They'll be mentioned later but not to this extent.

...

During the scene after Shax shows up, Crowley's going to touch some mail. We'll see his shoes on the ground at one point. A notable earthly object touch is the first one he gets when Shax shows up after he pulls the newspaper down. He's going to see himself in the mirror. Crowley does not see the way humans see most of the time. He senses with his eyes. But a mirror's actual literal function on Earth is generally to look at yourself, or something of interest.

One of the ways Crowley can and does see is if someone—or something, is deliberately showing him an earthly object. So, by Shax holding the mirror and Crowley intentionally looking at it, with its general actual function, he theoretically sees himself.

That's helpful to him because based on his actions during the story, he doesn't sense that the sideburns themselves have changed length when they do, even if he's using them to manage his space. He checks by looking in the mirror if possible and necessary, notably in his car. Catching when he might be looking at all is harder than this one part of this one scene. He is quite subtle about it. This game wants people to look closely to catch these types of things as they play and interpret the story.

The cut between Crowley holding the newspaper in profile view and pushing it down has him holding the newspaper differently with his fingers. That could be a suspicious chronology edit or it could be Crowley testing/managing the bounds of his created space or both.

...

You can see some of the sky and dark parts of trees reflected in Crowley's sunglasses. I consider that significant because it's a clue among several others that great care is taken to what is and is not reflected in his sunglasses during this story. You can find out more about why I think that's important here: The Window Trick Visual Representation.

...

Story Commentary

I don't know what the stillness does, but I suspect it is relevant because of how still Crowley is near the end of episode 6 when standing by the door to the car. My overall guess has been that it helps Crowley be sensed or seen since humans often don't actually approach him with the exception of Nina later. However, one human approaches him here before Shax will later arrive.

Due to how I play these games, Crowley's seeming listlessness here actually strikes me as more of a strategic move than what it looks like on the surface. He has his saturated streak. He has his sideburns. He had his newspaper door. He's messing with pockets without even putting actual hands in pants pockets yet. There was a rainbow. This sneaky snake is up to a lot, and he's hiding the extent of what that is from Shax and whoever else is reading him in the story.

When Crowley leaves, he will pass by Shax with him in the background. He is blurred, and there's something gold around where he's holding the newspaper, that is presumably his bills. After he passes Shax, you can't see the presumed bills anymore. Due to the angle? In this story, I'm skeptical, but yeah, could be. Crowley's going to be conveniently obscured many times throughout the season.

Based on this timeline rundown post, this scene could easily be out of order from the presented story. The sunlight and rainbow stuff is too confusing for me to understand in trying to figure out the time, but I think the idea this scene takes place out of order is a good, valid one. The basis from that post is the chimes I didn't notice on my own and wouldn't even know what they mean if I had noticed.

Not only that, in my watching the scene repeatedly to try and figure out what pocket mischief Crowley's up to next, I noticed the tie strands keep just swapping what side of the vest they are on in different cuts with no indication he moved to make them do that. It's not every cut, but it happens. He's a demon, so he could just do that because he wants to, of course.

The scene has ducks and some other birds. While some birds do appear when Crowley makes it rain in episode 3, animals are otherwise rather lacking in appearance once closer to Whickber Street and wherever Crowley parks his car when it's isolated.

The scene is nicely lit, thanks to the sunlight. We actually aren't going to see Crowley's hair this well lit for quite a bit of the story due to the other settings, especially the dimly lit bookshop.

That's it for this post. Way back when I started to track these things, I did have a tendency to update even these posts, so that could happen again, just FYI.

...

Past versions of this post:

Post #1 (meeting with Shax in St. James' Park)

Post #1 with mistake

...

Project inspired by these posts:

Crowley’s Sideburns & what do they mean?

Ok, I love this theory that it could be some sort ...

[terresdebrume]

Nobody sent asks about the persocons AU but fuck it, I'm having visions at 11pm and doing anything more than typing away on the phone would be really unreasonable so here we go for a very short pile of Vibes

Ps: I'm using persocons in reference to the manga Chobits, as a shorthand way of saying that the boys in this are robots with a very solid mimicry of sentience going on + are a normal part of society but ALSO as a way to indicate to those in the know that we are fucking with the laws of robotics a little bit

"Thank you," says Vera as Edwin hands her the crate and the spitting mad cat it contains. "You're very kind."

Charles isn't so far gone yet that he doesn't catch the infinitesimal twitch of Edwin's lips. They're pretty nice lips, plopped in the middle of a classically nice face, paired with a neat haircut and what is probably a classically nice body under all the tweed. The PAYNE line was kind of designed for that, after all. Well, Charles doubts any designer ever planned for the tweed, but the broadly appealing features and physique were definitely discussed for at least ten years down in the bowels of Hilarion Inc. headquarters. All in all: not surprising Charles would look. He's only—well.

Out of the shadows where Charles lurks, Vera steps back towards the next service shaft and the upper levels of London. Edwin watches her go with near perfect immobility, but even Charles' factory-work-oriented eyes don't miss the relaxing in his jaw, the miniscule sag of his shoulders. Edwin, Charles is willing to bet, is satisfied with a job well done... Which means there is no reason for him not to smile when Edwin joins him at the back of the alley.

"She's right you know. You're proper kind."

He falls into step with his newly found work partner, smirking when Edwin throws him a sideway glance and looks back ahead.

"Do not be ridiculous. Kindness is a human trait, and I am not human."

"Plenty of us Robots grow emotions, you know."

Mainstream research currently holds that persocons happen over time. Owner misses a software adjustment here, shakes a bot's servers a little too hard there, and eventually that all messes with the auto-learning routines in ways unpredicted and unpredictable and boom: your fuck off tall toaster now has opinions. Charles, who gave himself a name before he was even out of the factory, would beg to differ if he didn't suspect that would get him shipped straight to the richest R&D department for a nice long play session with his programming. Not exactly an appealing prospect.

"So experience seems to indicate," Edwin says, sounding exceedingly prim. "I however, haven't. It would be illogical for you to pretend I did."

"Sure mate. No worries."

Edwin gives a little nod that Charles decides to go ahead and label as satisfied. He'll keep mum about the whole emotions thing, of course. No point in going against Edwin on it. It's just that he also knows it's a load of tosh, really, and he doesn't know it because of the way Edwin's lips twitch sometimes in response to what other people are saying. It's not because he took one look at Charles' crumbling state—the shot up voice modulator, the stringy red hair falling off his head, the long stripe of skin missing from his jaw to his collarbone—and took Charles under his wings. It's not even because Edwin gave himself a name.

It's because, well. Charles was built as a factory model. He has the specs for thousands of android parts running through his data banks at any given time and access to millions more with the internet. Edwin's eye covers—the pale green of his irises, specifically—haven't been on the market for the past sed venty three years, four months, one week and two days. A normal android his age would have been replaced a long time ago. Crucially: it wouldn't have given a shit.

That's kind of the thing with androids that work like they're supposed to: they mimick emotions real well—as much as the humans want them to, that is—but when the moment comes to have them recycled they treat it like any other day. 'Oh, you want to erase me from existence forever? Okay.' And then they go. But then once in a while, someone like Charles comes along: a defect, a bug in the machine. An everlasting problem to robotics engineer everywhere, whose position on the whole being recycled is a resounding:

"Fuck that."

That's how Charles knows Edwin isn't actually emotionless. Because no matter how many personality protocols he's actually got running—or shut down, really, he sounds like enough of a beautiful freak to actively have played with his own brains—when the time came to be recycled, it is abundantly clear that Edwin's answer in spite of any Robotics Law overrides was also no thank you.

And if Charles is lucky, one of these days, Edwin might even admit it.

[elfmoon3]

A Siren's Melody (Transformers Animated story)

Pairing: LockDown x Oc (thought I do something interesting)

Summary: While still on the hunt for DeathRow, LockDown bumps into a fellow Cybertronian bounty hunter.

Location: Cybertron

LockDown was in hot pursuit of DeathRow, who eventually was found hiding in an abandoned decepticon base. The escaped fugitive was then cornered as he hit a dead end. "You might as well give it up, DeathRow." LockDown said as he transformed into his robot mode, DeathRow did the same. He was a dark red and purple bot that resembled an outlaw of the old west back on earth. "Still the same old LockDown." He said in a southern accent, "But remember, last time you were able to catch me was when you were still part of the Cyber-ninja Corps. So let's see if you can still dodge my shots like last time?" DeathRow said as he shot at LockDown, who dodged it in time, but that gave DeathRow a way to escape as he transformed into his vehicle mode and sped off. "You're really not making my job easy." LockDown said as he transformed into his vehicle mode and drove off after the fugitive. However, as he got outside of the base, DeathRow was gone. "Frag!" He cursed, but he heard something in the distance, singing. He recognized it as he got closer and saw a blue femme bot who he wished he didn't hear. "SirenSong." He spoke out, as the femme bot turned. "Oh, it's you." She said as she wasn't happy about seeing him either. "What are you doing here?" LockDown asked, "Well, I was called to help a fellow bounty hunter. At first, I thought it was gonna be Buckshot, but I guess you'll do." SirenSong said. "I work alone, you know." LockDown said as he transformed into his robot mode. "Oh, don't play dumb. Everyone knows you took on an apprentice. And he's still on earth, is he?" She asked with a smug. LockDown groaned as this was going to be a pain in the neck.

Later at LockDown's ship

LockDown was contacting The Elite Guard. Ultra Magnus answered. "LockDown, is something wrong?" He asked. "Yeah, why are you teaming me up with SirenSong of all bounty hunters?" He asked. "We figured that you might have a difficult time catching DeathRow, so we asked SirenSong to give you some assistance." Magnus answered. "We understand that you two had a rivalry. But it's for the best." He added, LockDown sighed, "Alright, I guess she can help out." He said in disappointment. "Then I wish you both the best of luck. DeathRow has become more dangerous than ever since his escape." Ultra Magnus said as he hung up. LockDown doesn't have a choice but to team up with the femme bot bounty hunter. The reason why she's called SirenSong was her alluring singing ability. Any bot with half a processor would fall for it. Except LockDown, he's not falling for her charms. Though he probably knows the reason why she joined in, her sister, FuryWing, was put offline by DeathRow. SirenSong was sharpening her claws as she stared at him. "So, what's the strategy, partner?" SirenSong asked in a sigh as she's still not happy teaming up with him. "First off, don't call me partner, just LockDown. Secondly, it's best that we try to think of a way to trap him and remove his modifications so he won't use them on us." LockDown said as he knew that she wanted to put the psycho bot offline personally. "I know what he did to your sister was traumatizing, but revenge is not how we bounty hunters roll." He said as he was then pushed to the wall by her. "DO YOU THINK I CARE!? FURYWING DIDN'T DESERVE TO BE PUT OFFLINE BY DEATHROW!!" SirenSong yelled in anger, for a delicate looking femme bot, she's really strong. She then realized that she was doing something wrong and let him go. She looked down on the floor of the ship with lubricant tears on her face plate. "It's just not fair to me that she was put offline. We were a team. Sisters. What DeathRow did was unforgivable." She said as she cried. LockDown sighed. He's not a softy around her like most bots are. But he knows that he needs DeathRow to be put in custody online. But he, despite not being a soft spark, has to get her to calm down before they start going back on the hunt. "SirenSong, I think I might know a better idea for you to get revenge on DeathRow without putting him offline." He said as SirenSong turned around with lubricant tears still going down her face. "Oh yeah, what do you suggest?" She asked as he put up DeathRow's profile. "He as a modification that can make him mimic voices, I figured you'd like to use that once we get him in custody." LockDown suggested, SirenSong remembered the last thing her sister told her before she went offline, is that DeathRow mimicked SirenSong's voice to lure her to him. Taking away the one modification from DeathRow is the best form of revenge than putting him offline. She likes the idea and smiles at him. " Alright, LockDown, we'll go with your idea." She said as one of LockDown's sensors went off. It was the one he put in at The Elite Guard headquarters. "We should hurry." He said as he got out of the ship and transformed into his vehicle mode, SirenSong followed him and transformed into her flight mode as the two bounty hunters left the ship towards the Elite Guard headquarters.

At the Elite Guard headquarters

Many Autobot guards fought off DeathRow as he pushed them back with his servos. He's after something or someone. Whatever his goal is, he's not letting anyone get in his way. As he made it to Ultra Magnus' office, he suddenly heard what sounded like singing inside the office. He entered the room to see that Ultra Magnus was not in there, but he could still hear the singing in another direction and followed it as he passed the knocked down Autobot guards. He followed it outside and was hit by Sentinel Prime's shield, knocking him out. LockDown and SirenSong walked towards him as they put stasis cuffs on DeathRow without waking him. LockDown grabbed the shield and returned it to Sentinel, "Thanks for letting me borrow it for the plan." He said as he went to take the voice mimicry modification off the now former fugitive. He gave the modification to SirenSong. "You kept your promise?" She asked. "Well, I figured you'd get mad at me if I kept it." LockDown jokingly said. She rolled her optics and took the modification. "You two sure make a good team. And thanks for the heads up on DeathRow's arrival." Jazz said as he gave LockDown his payment. It was a round saw blade. "So, would you be heading back towards earth?" Sentinel Prime asked. "I might go ahead and return to Detroit if my new partner would like to join?" He asked as SirenSong turned around to look at him with confusion. "I thought you hated me." She said, "Yeah, but if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be able to put DeathRow back in custody. And I figured you'd like to meet the kid." LockDown said as he put his servo out for a servo shake. "Sure thing, LockDown." She said, shaking his servo with hers. This is gonna be the start of a beautiful partnership.

The End.

(I might explain more about SirenSong in a future post)

[hifirushimagines]

Not to be a total lesbian but uhhh friendly Rivalry between Rekka and Mimosa for a polyam Reader?

They have two hands you know?

⊱ ────────────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───────────── ⊰

Rekka and Mimosa fight over Reader

TW; Love triangle, rivalry, mentions of fighting

Notes; This one has been in my ask for quite a while and I'm sorry for not getting to it sooner, plus I might need to make a part 2 to this

⊱ ────────────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───────────── ⊰

The first person to fall first is Rekka meeting the Reader who was hired as a workplace assistant to her and the other bosses, she didn't think of them much more then just another assistant for them to just get things. Lately she starts to call for them more often then the others

Rekka fell for the way they smiled whenever she called for them, when they cheer for her as she does her entry and the way they laugh when she jabs at any of the workers or bosses, sometimes she catches herself watching the Reader as they play with the SCR-UB bots

Sometimes Rekka will see something that reminds her of them like a piece of clothing, their favorite snack or something they mentioned in a passing conversation. Buying said item and wrapping it (the best she can) and gifting it to them either directly or sending one of the flying bots

Then came along Mimosa who demanded for the Reader due to a upcoming concert because she needs them cause her hands are full, so Rekka unfortunately decides let Mimosa have Reader for the time being until then

During the time Mimosa has been nothing more then difficult then it should be for the Popstar having to make sure her schedule to organize, that she has her double shot white mocha when she yells for it and booking appointments to meet with certain people

But in time Mimosa starts to soften up on Reader going from constantly demanding and yelling to asking and thank yous, it was a strange sudden change truly but never the less it was nice

Mimosa has been a lot nicer to the point it made everyone think she was replaced but it was Reader just being themselves, making Mimosa have eaten and drunk that day, telling her to take daily breaks when things starts to get to her and checking up on her after practice

She couldn't help but fall in love with them as she continues to work them much to the dismay of Rekka visiting Reader and taking her time with them, so Mimosa did the one thing she does best and make drama yelling for Reader to help her with scheduling because one of her clients just rescheduled and she needs to find another time

Rekka became frustrated as Mimosa leads Reader away wrapping her arms around theirs as they walk away, but not without Mimosa sticking her tongue out at her making her more mad

[eldritchships]

Reunited in Witwicky

The stand-off brings two long lost lovers back together. (Spoilers for Episode 24 of Transformers Earth.spark)

"Clever, using the old Decepticon emergency line." Megatron commended, raising his cannon to the right and firing again.

"I think you mean, ingenious." Shockwave corrected. He brandished the Immobilizer towards the GHOST-mechs, and in doing so, he missed a deep crease ease from Megatron's brow.

Across the yard, amid the carnage, Flatline gripped a mech by the jetpack, and thrust his harpoon through its stomach. Sparks flew as the harpoon pierced clean through, and Flatline wrenched the deactivated mech off onto the ground. He turned to find the next enemy. Then he stopped, and his ventilation fans ground to a halt. He saw Megatron, wielding his energy mace with righteous fury.

Standing beside him was Shockwave.

Online, intact, exactly the same as the last time Flatline had seen him.

Flatline's optics grew wide. His pedes were moving before his processor could catch up, first at a stumble, then a sprint. Blaster fire whizzed past his helm and barked orders dully registered in his audials. His optics never left Shockwave. He swerved and darted between people - bot and GHOST alike - crossing the expanse of the yard in what felt like mere seconds.

As he came close, diving underneath a swooping mech soldier, Shockwave's helm snapped around. His cannon arm fired, the head launching like a grappling hook towards the blur of movement that had flashed by his peripheral. The head hooked its claws around Flatline's chest plate, and Flatline grunted in discomfort before the cable winched, reeling him in with it. He didn't make any attempt to stop it, and he was soon being held aloft at arm's length, his servos clutching into a purple forearm. A burning yellow optic, bright as the sun, bore into Flatline's faceplates. Then it flashed.

"Flatline..." Shockwave's arm dipped, but quickly straightened again, keeping Flatline from falling. Flatline's vocaliser caught and fizzled with static, staring back at him. It reset with a soft click, and then Flatline laughed, the sound shaky and thick as he surged forward to claim Shockwave's helm in his servos. Shockwave pulled him close, stepping backwards and using his other servo to take another shot with the Immobiliser, freezing approaching mechs. Wheeljack slid in front of Shockwave, planting himself as a barrier between the Decepticon and GHOST's forces.

"You're alive." Flatline breathed. The tail rotors on his ankles spun, and his brow creased upwards. He couldn't have cared if the invading army were attacking here or on the moon. It was as if the remains of Cybertron itself had resurrected itself in his servos, brushing his digits firmly along beautiful grey finials. He dived to wrap his arms around Shockwave's neck cabling, squeezing hard enough to choke. His optics closed just as tight, but he felt Shockwave's cannon press against the dip of his back, keeping him flush against the other bot's form.

"Flatline." Shockwave repeated, firmer and more certain. Another laugh bubbled from Flatline's mouth and he kissed the closest patch of purple plating.

Shockwave suddenly lurched back, a laser beam skidding by his knee coupling. Flatline's optics opened and he remembered his surroundings, the fight against GHOST, the Autobots and the vulnerable Terrans. He unlocked his arms and dropped back onto his own two pedes, servo still lingering on the side of Shockwave's helm, where his cheek would be.

"Do your air filters still work?" Flatline smiled. Shockwave's optic brightened and his helm tilted, leaning into Flatline's servo.

"Of course."

Flatline's own blue optics shone for the first time in decades, and his breathing mask slid over his faceplates with a metallic snap. His spark wrenched when he pulled his digits from Shockwave's helm, but he turned around to face the fight with his helm high, rotor blades flared. His right servo clenched, the harpoon hissing as it readied to deploy. Feeling Shockwave's presence at his side, Flatline let out a shuddering, overwhelmed sigh against the mask, and he shot his harpoon towards the nearest GHOST-mech.

Not far off, Elita-1 and Hashtag charged forward in vehicle mode, with Nightshade flying close behind.

[lifetimeshipper]

Life's New Adventures and Secrets

Chapter 24

~~~~~~~~~~

Emberwing tackled Nightback to the ground, "You're it, Nightback!" She grinned as she got off of him.

"Alright, you better run fast."

"I always do," she giggled as she prepared to run when her ears twitched to a sound behind them. Turning around she couldn't see anything other than the grass. Smelling the air she wrinkled her nose when she smelled something stinky, "Guys I think we should get back to Bumblebee."

Nightback sniffed the air too, "She's right."

Seajumper smelled the air, "What's with you two? I don't smell anything."

"We have a stronger sense of smell so we can smell things you can't, but trust us we need to get back to Bumblebee."

"But there's nothing there," Seajumper countered. Just then the dark brown lioness-like Decepticon roared as she leaped at the sparklings. They yelled in fear as she was closing in on them only to be stopped by a barrage of shots fired at her face. 

"Laserbeak!" Emberwing yelled with happiness. 

"You can thank him later come on," Seajumper said as he ran with Emberwing and Nightback right behind him.

Darkrain slashed at the Mini-Con trying to get it out of the way, but Laserbeak dodged her attack and kept firing at her. With a hiss, Darkrain transformed into a four-wheeler and chased after the sparklings.

Bumblebee saw the sparklings running towards him with a four-wheeler on their tail, he ran over to them. Laserbeak kept firing at the four-wheeler only to crash into the ground as something hit it from behind. Tailfire smirked at her handiwork before she transformed into a motorbike, quickly catching up with her sister. 

Bumblebee ran faster but he wasn't gonna get there in time, just when the lionesses were getting ready to get the sparklings Razorclaw hit them from the side knocking them over. Razorclaw crouched low putting himself between the now bot-form lioness femmes and the sparklings, "Darkrain, what are you and Tailfire doing here?" He growled.

"Apparently, we were on the same prison ship."

"Don't play games with me!"

"Where's Saborfang?"

"In a stasis pod, where you're going to end up," he growled as the sparklings ran over to Bumblebee.

"Razorclaw, you and your brother know these femmes?" Bumblebee asked as he pointed his gun at the femmes.

"Unfortunately, but they're more acquainted with Saborfang," he growled keeping his optics on the femmes.

"Aww don't be like that Razorclaw, after everything we've done for you," Tailfire crooned as she sent an icy chill across Razorclaw's body.

"They're Saborfang's first."

:: Grimlock, Sideswipe, I need you two to get back here now. :: Bumblebee commed the other two.

:: A little busy, 'Bee. :: Sideswipe responded.

Sideswipe kicked Bloodclaw away from him as she bounced right back landing on Grimlock's helm, "Ahh! Get her off me!" The Dinobot screamed. Sideswipe jumped up and landed a blow on the femme knocking her off Grimlock and onto the ground. When she started getting up Grimlock slammed her back down with his tail, knocking her out.

:: 'Bee, we caught one of the 'Cons. :: Sideswipe informs Bumblebee.

:: Well done you two. :: Bumblebee says before calling Soundwave. :: Soundwave, open up a Ground Bridge for Grimlock and Sideswipe, they have a prisoner. :: 

The two femmes let out a battle cry as they leaped at Razorclaw. But before they could touch him, Megatron crashed into them, sending the two flying to the ground. They started getting up but were knocked out by Razorclaw, "After the scrap they put me through, that felt really good."

Bumblebee laughed before calling Soundwave again. :: Soundwave, we need a Ground Bridge. We have two more prisoners. ::

A Ground Bridge opens up shortly after and they pick up the two femmes and walk through. Once they were all back at the scrapyard with their prisoners Soundwave walked over to them, "Where is Laserbeak?"

Bumblebee looked around, "He didn't come through the Ground Bridge?"

"I got him," Megatron replied, holding the injured Mini-Con.

"Thank you, my lord," Soundwave says as he takes Laserbeak from him and then takes him to get repaired while the others put the three femmes into stasis pods.

"What happened?" Arcee asked as Seajumper ran up to her.

"Two of those lioness 'Cons went after the sparklings while they were playing, they were about to jump on them when Razorclaw rammed into them knocking them over and saving their lives."

Thunderhoof picked up Emberwing who was trembling with fright, "Thank you, Razorclaw," he said before walking off. Metalsound huffed as she left with Thunderhoof to calm Emberwing down.

Bumblebee looks at Sideswipe and Grimlock, "Are you two alright?"

"We're alright," Grimlock replied.

"Except Grimlock screamed like a little femme," the red mech snickered.

"Hey, you said you wouldn't tell anybody!"

"My bad big guy, but it was too funny to keep to myself."

Strongarm went up to Razorclaw and hugged him, "Thank you for saving our sparklings."

Razorclaw stiffened when she hugged him, "Um, you're welcome."

"Yeah, thanks," Arcee added with a smile.

"I wasn't going to let those femmes hurt them. Even if they're not my own I won't let anyone harm them."

They notice Denny and Russell running by with sheets and tarps, getting certain items and other stuff, "What are you two doing?" Grimlock asked.

"Can you guys land us a hand in securing everything? A big storm is coming, a hurricane is to hit not far from here and we're to be getting the outlining of it which means heavy rain and heavy winds." The bots nodded and everyone pitched in to help. 

Razorclaw left to check on Soundwave and he found him repairing Laserbeak, "How is he?"

"He will be alright, he just needs to rest. Are the humans preparing for the storm?"

"Yes, that's what they're doing now."

"We should be prepared as well in case we end up getting stuck in our quarters." He looks over at the Wolf-Con, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just fine."

"Razorclaw, if something is bothering you, you can tell me," Soundwave said softly as he placed his servo over the Wolf-Con's.

"No, there's nothing."

He could tell something was bothering the mech and he wanted to help, "If you're sure," he replied as Laserbeak went back to his chest.

"Let's just get started preparing for the storm."

With a nod, Soundwave left to help the others, he also was keeping an eye on the weather channels. They all got everything together and ready for the big storm and soon the storm hit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[iviarellereads]

Network Effect, Chapter 4

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which I could say "something has gone terribly wrong" but that would be the understatement of the decade.

Murderbot didn't use evac suits before hacking its governor module, because going into space tended to violate the distance limits in company contracts, but the ones it's used practically have bot pilots, and these are new enough to not even smell like human parts. It guides Amena out, until it can contact baseship. They say they can see MB and Amena, and will tractor shortly. MB asks about Overse and the pod with the others. Roa says they'll try to make contact now. MB would rather not think about that, but Amena asks what it means. MB doesn't have time to answer before it detects an energy surge, and its suit's helmet goes dark, as the attacker fires and misses.

MB turns to see what's firing, a dumb human impulse. But, the configuration looks strangely familiar. Then it recognizes the insignia.

“That’s—” That’s ART,(1) I almost said on the feed, like an idiot. It was so shocking and so weird, my performance reliability dropped and I lost circulation to my organic parts. And not weird = violating norms in an annoying way but weird = eerie, like in Farland Star Roads, the story arc with the haunted station with ghosts and time-shifting.

Amena asks what MB was going to say, but the ship, Art, or not so much, fires again. Only, it misses anything again. The humans wonder if it's firing warning shots. MB asks if baseship is ready to catch them, but before they can log on the tractor, the hostile grabs them instead. Amena, very distressed, asks why they want her and MB when they have the facility already. MB doesn't know.

Even as they're loaded into an airlock by the tractor, MB doubts its memories, more than a little. It wants to run a diagnostic, but there's no time.

The lock cycles out, and allows them inside. MB steps in, cautiously, then pulls Amena in as well. For her part, Amena asks MB to just talk to her, even if it doesn't have answers to her questions. MB reminds itself that it still has a client, even if it's hallucinating, even if it wishes she were someone it trusted to be able to help it. It sends a ping, which almost seems to echo, as if the ship were hollow.

MB tells Amena something close to the truth: it recognizes this ship, but it shouldn't be here. Amena asks what ship it is, but instead of answering, MB has a genius idea and asks what the ship's insignia says. Any of its former clients who knew what it is would have known immediately that something was wrong, that MB doesn't ask questions it can answer for itself. But, Amena doesn't know it as well, and simply gives the answer: Perihelion. MB can now be sure it's not hallucinating, which is good, but also bad, because Art obviously isn't home.

Amena guesses it was hit by raiders and armed. MB says it was already armed: it's a deep space research vessel, with crew and passenger complement, but it works as a bot pilot in the off season. Amena asks why raiders would bother grabbing her and MB… only, if MB had something to do with this ship, could the raiders be here for it? MB says no, which it knows for a lie: something of Art came to get it, it just doesn't know why yet,(2) or why Art won't talk to it. Could something else be in control of Art's ship-body?

Lots of spiral thinking about what's going on, until it decides that first, they need to ditch the evac suits, as they're too cumbersome. Amena is reluctant, but does so. MB knows it needs to get her to the medical suite asap. As they make their way, MB detects no crew, even with its drones patrolling.

Only, the drones miss something, and MB takes a blow to the head and has to reboot.

Fortunately, a SecUnit's organic brain bits have better padding than a human. It's back up and running in time to still hear two unidentified beings talking to Amena, suggesting she'd better have the weapon they were told was in Preservation, or she'll regret it. The strangers say she's lying, and they know better.

MB's reboot has purged some of the stress toxins and helped it feel better and think more clearly. It was hit with a drone, which means there's some sort of feed active. It widens its scan parameters, and notes that its projectile weapon is smashed on the floor.(3) As it follows Amena's voice, it finds the feed and breaks the encryption, despite its algorithm being at least 8700 hours out of date.(4) The feed is empty of everything but drone comands, but if the feed encryption was old, maybe the drones are on old codes too. It starts cycling through them as it approaches its destination.

The doorway to the lounge where I’d detected Amena’s voice was open, brighter light falling into the half-lit corridor. I meant to wait until I was back up to at least 90 percent performance reliability but I heard Amena say, “There’s no weapon, you got the wrong ship.” The fear in her voice was more obvious and I was suddenly in the room. (Impulse control; I should try to write a code patch for that.)(5)

There are two potential casualties, in red and brown uniforms (not Art's dark blues) and looking bruised, and two definite Targets, looking augmented. They remark about how it should have been dead. MB needs intel, but instead of asking the more situationally important questions, it asks the emotionally important one: what did they do to Art? They accuse it of babbling, and Amena is utterly shocked, her hands over her mouth.(6)

The targets admit they deleted it. MB feels its face change. Amena cusses, and the targets find anger boring. Target One says it belongs to them now, but before it can continue, MB grabs it by the face, and swings it into the bulkhead. One of the drones comes at its head, but it dodges. Target Two looks at the other drones, obviously wondering why they didn't attack.

The good thing about being a construct is that I can have a dramatic emotional breakdown while still running my background search to find the drone key commands. I’d had a hit and a responding ping from the targetDrones right when Target One had called me boring. (Irony is great.) I sent the order to power down and they dropped to the deck with two loud thunks.(7)

As Target Two's face turns to fury, MB parrots back their earlier words: angry, afraid, then dead, wasn't it? Casualty One starts to say something, but Target One interrupts by reaching for a weapon, tricking MB into lunging for it, and hitting MB with a hidden energy weapon in the other hand. The Target grins, but MB just gets angrier, and crushes their arm. Target Two, with misplaced confidence, shoves another energy weapon at MB's chest.(8)

MB tears the energy weapon out of Target Two's hand, shoves it into their chest, and rips a hole in their torso. It then uses the weapon to smash them against the bulkhead until bits splatter off. Target One bolts for the hatch, but Amena calls its attention to the targetDrones, powering up despite MB's override code. It smashes both of them.

The casualties finally come into play. Casualty One, Eletra, tries to tell Amena she needs to come with them and hide. Casualty Two, Ras, agrees, and says they stand a chance with a SecUnit. Both have ID from a corporation called Barish-Estranza. Amena says maybe they should, but MB says it has something to do. It sets its own drones to following Target One, all the way to the crew meeting area where it spent the most time here before.

The targetDrones aren't responding to its commands anymore at all, which suggests a security update, which suggests a controlling system near enough to push it. MB tries to cut off the targetDrone feed, but while some are cut, others still have access.

To Amena, MB admits it doesn't have control over the drones anymore, so Amena says they should go together.

MB's drones have followed Target One all the way to the control deck, with Target One and Target Three. Target One collapses on a station chair. Target Three starts to give orders to kill the escapees, but MB uses some of its drones to hit both One and Three in their faces.

In the lounge, the Casualties are arguing that Amena just needs to order the SecUnit to come with them, but Amena says it doesn't take orders. Amena grabs MB's arm, not knowing the danger she's courting. She tells MB they have to go with the Casualties. MB tells her never to touch it again. Eletra starts to move, as Ras asks if MB will even listen. MB moves past Eletra and catches the targetDrone waiting for them outside, then tells them to follow it.(9)

=====

(1) I dunno about you, but when I first read this, my first thought was "HECK YEA!" followed immediately by "wait, but it just fired at MB?! HECK WHAT NO!" (2) The power of friendship: even in death, I will come for you. (3) Not even the courtesy to take it with them so someone could steal it back and use it later? Rude. (4) If you do the math, that's 2.5 days short of a full Earth year that MB has been free. (5) Aw, but where's the fun in that? (6) What must be going through her head? Does it feel like watching a serial, the way MB so often quips to us? (7) That's the Murderbot we know and love. (8) You really would think that these people would be a little smarter, to have been able to take over Art. (9) That's some real compelling reasoning, actually, well done.

[quad-weave]

Hello!

Time for an introduction post! This is my main Tumblr account (by accident, actually, I Didn't Get Tumblr when I started lol), so regardless of the reason, this is the name you see pop up when I follow you. So hi, I'm not a bot, and you can check the other Tumblrs section at the end of the post if you're like "okay do I know you though?" lol.

Anyway, I'm Kris! 30+, super queer, any pronouns. This is my main FFXIV Tumblr! I take a lot of screenshots and just in general do a lot of the content in this game. So, this is basically my catch-all blog for FFXIV.

This is not my only FFXIV Tumblr--there's also Dalmascan Requiem, which is my in-character Tumblr for my two Viera OCs. Since I make a lot of out-of-character gposes of them (and just a lot of screenshots in general, lol...) a separate place for the fics, info, etc seemed best. I'll always reblog those posts here though!

Looking for something specific here?

#quad posing - Gposes of my FFXIV characters, that don't have anything to do with glams 💃

#quad comics - For Gposes that tell a story! These may be OC-related or just something fun 😎

#quad portraits - I've started taking screencaps of the Adventurer Plate portraits I make so I can share 😀

#quad scenery - Shots of various locales and dungeons 🌞

#quad glams - The glams I make and post on Eorzea Collection 🎩

#quad refs - Character reference sheets for outfits and more 👁‍🗨

#quad housing - My housing builds 🏡

#quad fics - Where to go for my fics, whether related to my OCs or not 📝

#dalmascan requiem - For anything related to my two Viera OCs 🐇

#quad screenshots - for anything that doesn't fit into the above, but still something I took a screenshot of 📸

#quad weaving - When I feel like talking about raiding 👻

Post Roundups

Vierapril 2023 | 2024

Gpose Anniversary

FFxivWrite 2023 | 2024

Buntober 2023

Other places you can find me

Bluesky

Eorzea Collection

Archive of Our Own

Tomestone

Other Tumblrs

Since this is my main Tumblr, you might wonder where I came from if you followed a different one... so here are the other Tumblrs I have:

vibes, art, inspiration (gaiages) - Just my catch-all Tumblr of stuff that interests me. It's pretty much all reblogs and not all that active.

Diogenes' Utopia - My Honkai: Star Rail Tumblr. I'm on a break from the game, so there's not much original content, but I reblog Star Rail stuff there!

Dalmascan Requiem - As mentioned above, it's my in-character Tumblr for my two FFXIV OCs. All posts are reblogged to here!

[curseofbreadbear]

animatronicabundance​:

Rockstar Row? It takes the boy a second to remember where that was, as he didn’t have a map from sheer luck of avoiding mapbot somehow, but how could he forget that area of the mall. It was where he acquired his soft bear friend, one of the glass cases had been open that night and he took a chance. Something about the bear just called to him, and while he’s not sure what or why……..he’s glad he had a friend even if it was plush. Now he has two though and he couldn’t be more excited!

“R-Rockst-star R-Row…g-got it!”

His heart races a bit with nerves, would he be able to keep up with the older boy? He was awfully good at running, the tripping with the bunny didn’t count, but he never had to keep up with another kid. At Least from what he remembers he never had to keep pace with another child.

The boys do mostly well though, getting slightly split up by one staff bot but it doesn’t take long for him to get back to being Gregory’s shadow. Almost there…amost-

A familiar red station beckons as the hour hits, but they both are used to this song and dance by now. Gregory and the boy, who’s yet to give a name neither has Gregory but the night has nerves high, make it safely inside. He puts his hand on his racing chest and takes a deep breath once it’s safe to leave. That was their only problem….it was a straight shot to Freddy’s room now.

[If Gregory had to guess, then this kid probably hadn't made sprinting part of his strategy ( unlike Gregory, who never passed up the benefits of a delicious Fizzy Faz ). Maybe he preferred hiding -- with a hidey-hole like that closet earlier, he clearly had some prowess with stealth. In other words, he was Gregory's strategical opposite...he'd have to keep that in mind if they had to pull another stunt like this. It wouldn't do to have him lag behind, after all -- that gave the bots ample opportunity to catch him.]

[This bout of running went without a hitch...for the most part, anyway. A STAFF bot had almost split them up, but thankfully, the other kid was quick-witted. He'd caught up despite the snag in their route, and now they were well on their way to Rockstar Row.]

[...Not without darting into a charging station first, though. One glance at his watch told him that they had a minute, at best, to do so. Moon was on the prowl -- and although Gregory would usually summon Freddy for such encounters, there was no telling what might happen with the new kid around. He worried that Freddy's frantic stomping might send him into high alert -- that was the last thing they needed.]

[Nevertheless, they were safe once again; the Pizzaplex's lights flickered back on, which meant that all they had to worry about now was getting back to Freddy. That shouldn't be difficult, though -- his entire reason for heading to Rockstar Row ( and Freddy's green room ) hinged on the lack of animatronic presence there. They would be safe.]

❝ It's just a straight shot from here. I don't think we have to worry about those bots anymore. ❞ [Gregory glanced over, watching the other kid catch his breath; all this running must have been taking a greater toll on him than Gregory realized. At least they could probably go at their own pace now.] ❝ ...Catch your breath, then let's go. We don't have to worry about running for a while. ❞

[Once the other kid settled down, Gregory led him out of the charging station. He kept a slow and steady pace this time around, but kept a sharp eye out for the animatronics ( or the dancing rabbit lady )...just in case. It didn't seem like they were in any danger, and Freddy was just around the corner.]

[At last, they reached Freddy's green room door; Gregory pulled out his Photo Pass, but stalled before opening it.]

❝ ...This room is safe. Freddy's in there, but he's our friend. He's not like the others. ❞ [He'd already reassured this other kid about Freddy, probably, but it didn't hurt to encourage him again before they actually entered. He seemed really squeamish around ALL of the animatronics.] ❝ Ready? ❞

[ashthemadwriter-archived]

Heyyy Had a smol request to make! I really loved the headpat hcs you wrote <33 if possible, could you please write some for Chuuya and Akutagawa too? Take your time! Stay hydrated, and take care of yourself <333

Fandom: Bungou Stray Dogs

Pairings: Chuuya, Akutagawa X Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff, Humor

Format: Headcanons

Warnings: None

Word Count: 0.9K

A/n: When you said that you wanted to send a request I didn't think you meant this lmao. I suffered till I got some ideas XD

I got a bit carried away with Chuu btw🤧

Part 1 with Dazai, Fyodor and Ranpo

↬Ryuunosuke Akutagawa

◆I honestly think that having a platonic relationship with this guy is really fun! And maybe even better than romantic.(Don't ask me why cuz that's just another story)

◆He isn't used to have someone as a friend, so this is all new to him and hes still, you know, testing the water.

◆It will take him a lot of time to get used to, well, You; but he will eventually if youre trustworthy and capable enough.

◆He cares for you in his own particular way, and by that I mean that no one is capable to notice it. Not even you yourself; but he does care, and that's what that matters.

"Oh my god I'm Exhausted!" is what you say when you inter the room and throw yourself on the couch, taking a deep breath while relaxing your body. "Mori is planning on killing me by sending me to these death missions! I can feel it! " Turning your head to the silent man who was slowly taking a sip from his tea, you sulked and got upset because he was totally ignoring you. "As I was saying… the damn snipers were shooting at me from everywhere! I nearly got shot in the head if my men hadn't blocked them!" Even a tiny glance was enough for you, but Akutagawa was still silent, pretending you didn't exist at all, and this made you angry. "Oi! Goth boy!" "…" "Fig wasting machine!" "…" "Twenty year old man who doesn't know how to smile!" "…" Knowing him for quite a long time, you knew how to catch his attention, but it was a risk you were willing to take, which you weren't before because you weren't that close in the beginning. "Oi! Coward!" The second those words came out of your mouth, the man looked at you sending daggers through his eyes, while forming a blade out of his coat, ready to attack you. What he was not expecting was for you to smile and move closer to him. "What? Are you a coward?" "Do you have a death wish?" "Then why did you look at me when I called you that?" His blade slowly came down as he stared at you a bit more, then went back on drinking his tea. You rolled your eyes and then turned your head to the opposite direction, and started whining to yourself in a low voice. "Well what am I even expecting from you. You don't care if I even die or anything. I come to your office everyday trying to make conversation but all you do is just ignoring me. You don't even look at me! Like, do you hate me that much? But why? what did I d-" your words were immediately cut off by the sensation of his hand on your head, slowly patting you; And when you looked at him, he was looking back, and not in a threatening way. "Good job" Now it was your turn to be silent. Not because you wanted to get back at him; but because you were caught off guard and didn't know how to react. "Happy? Now shut up and let me have my tea in peaceful silence"

↬Chuuya Nakahara

◆Being in a platonic relationship with this guy is just so entertaining! Hes fun, interesting, brave, cool, etc.

◆But the thing is, hes been betrayed so many times that he just cant fully trust you. He wont show it at all though. He will chat with you, drink with you and stuff, but hes still afraid if youre gonna be like his old "friends" .He will eventually trust you if you two spend time together.

◆But it will take a lot of time, cause he did considered Dazai as his friend for 4 whole years; but then…

◆Anyway, hes literally the best if youre willing to put up with his short temper :)

"I hate everything in this shitty world!" "What now?" you grab the bottle of wine from his hand and drinking it till theres not even a drop left, then throw the bottle out of the window. Chuuya would have been be mad if you weren't this angry and tired, but luckily, you had enough that day. "I say hello and they give me work. I run into them in the hallway and they give me work. work, work, work. What am I? A stupid robot or something?" Chuuya looked at you carefully while opening the next bottle, trying to hide it so you wont snatch this one from him too. "Well, you get paid a lot in exchange, so its kind of fair" "Fair? Fair?" Dramatic as always, you sat next to him while covering your face with your hands, trying to fight the anger that was taking over you. "Making you work like a damn machine isn't fair! And were risking our lives by working in the mafia! I nearly died a while ago on the mission! And do you know what they did? Nothing! Nobody even bothered to sat "Thanks for working this hard" or "are you ok?" or "Well done" or- " "Well done. I'm proud of you" Frozen in the spot, you look at him with surprise and shock, while he gives you a small smile that melts your heart. "Awwwwwwwww Chuuuuuu! Waaaaaaaa!" Throwing yourself in his arms, you begin to cry as you wrapped your arms around him. "I love you so much! what am I supposed to do without you! Waaaaa(crying*)!" Chuuya slowly patted your back as he tried to act smooth and not to blush furiously. "Its ok y/n… its ok"

Reblogs are apprecaited!

[hellowkatey]

I refuse to believe the droid that blew up under tech's ass didn't cause more damage

3.9k words ~ depictions of violence ~ ao3 ~ a little whump for your troubles

"They're using live rounds!" Hunter hisses, and Tech's blood runs cold. Live rounds? The Kaminoans have never resorted to training with live rounds within the simulation chamber. Even at a low power, live rounds have 62% chance of causing extensive damage to the room's durasteel construction, as opposed to the 21% chance with stuns. That does not even account for the monetary loss if a soldier were to lose their life or require medical attention. All in all, it's a horribly irresponsible training tactic. Something has changed. But why? Tech does not have an answer for that.

He looks at Hunter and Echo crouched behind the barrier next to him. "Get Wrecker," Hunter commands, the flurry of bright red blaster shots zooming overhead. "We'll cover you."

Tech offers a single nod in confirmation and eyes the distance to his fallen brother. With cover from both Hunter and Echo, and if he approaches from the opposite side of his barrier, he should have a relatively high chance of success. Assuming he can keep his head down, of course.

Tech makes his way to the barrier closer to Wrecker without issue.

"Wrecker, are you alright?" He asks, his anxiety quelling at the sight of his brother crawling toward him. The shot did not seem to fully penetrate his armor, which is good news. Tech runs out to meet him, grabbing Wrecker by the shoulder to help him get out of the line of fire.

Just in time it seems. One of the trigger-happy droids notices their movement and leaves a trail of carbon scoring in their wake.

Tech and Wrecker collapse against a barrier just as Hunter, Echo, and Crosshair fall back from their previous positions. He can see them approximately eight meters away. Too far to hear any orders without Hunter alerting the droids to their potential plan.

Suddenly their barrier is getting pounded by blasters. The training droids have discovered their hiding place and are firing without mercy. Smoke from the live rounds curl from the other side of the barrier, fogging up Tech's goggles and filling the air with the horrendous scent of burnt plastoid.

Or perhaps that is the smell of Wrecker's melted chest plate. Difficult to tell. Tech is quickly inching toward overstimulation from the deafening shots, heavy footsteps, and smell of smoke assaulting his senses..

He peers around the corner of their hiding space to get an idea of how close the droids are when a shot slams against the corner— far too close to comfort. He recoils just in time, but the heat of the shot still warms the skin between his helmet and blacks. There seems to be no clear break as the line of their attackers moves forward. He and Wrecker are stuck unless the others can help.

A whistle cuts through the sounds of battle. Tech and Wrecker look at their sergeant who waits for their attention before going through a serious of hand signals.

Split up. Cover. Draw fire. Distract and manual take down. Reprogram. Tech nods along, recognizing this particular sequence.

"Oh!" Wrecker exclaims, collapsing dramatically from his crouched position. "I hate hand signals."

"Perhaps if you memorized them," Tech offers, though he knows there is no chance in hell that will ever happen.

"Why don't you memorize them?"

"I have." Tech is more surprised that Wrecker assumed he hadn't. "What we did on Felucia."

Wrecker is on his feet in an instant. "Why didn't you just say that?" He throws a thumbs up to Hunter and the others— the only hand signal they can ever trust Wrecker to remember— and crouches his way to the outskirts of the chamber.

Tech watches as Hunter and Crosshair lay down cover fire, splitting up to spread the attention of the droids. And Echo assumes his ARC trooper role of running head-on into the action. As the droids shoot at his quick run, Wrecker runs up from behind, tackling one of the training droids to the ground with a satisfied laugh.

Also in typical ARC trooper fashion, Echo jumps onto the back of the other droid as though it's an angry rancor he's attempting to ride. And the droid bucks as any rancor would-- until Echo slams his scomp link into its neck, deactivating it all together.

Now it's reprogramming time. Tech runs to meet them, catching Wrecker's eager arm as it moves to punch the fallen droid again.

"Reprogramming this thing will be pointless if you crush it."

Wrecker seems disappointed, but he resists the urge to wreck. "You better be right about this."

Tech ignores the doubt and gets to work in the droid's circuit board. He works as quickly as possible, acutely aware that Hunter and Crosshair are undoubtedly being swarmed by this point.

"Hurry up," Wrecker warns. It is a statement more of worry for their brothers than a critique of Tech's programming speed. With a quick glance at his vambrace monitor, he slams the circuit board shut.

"Done. Let him go."

Wrecker and Echo back off just as the other droids launch a new attack at the site of their droid field surgery. They run for cover. Tech, on the other hand, situates himself on the shoulders of his new pet droid.

If Echo is the rancor rider, then he is the rancor tamer in this analogy.

The droid stands at its full height, nearly throwing Tech off on the way up, but he manages to press his thighs against its head to balance his weight. Shots from the other droids are whizzing past him in growing frequency. He is an easy target at this height and visibility. He needs to work quickly.

Taking control of the droid's weapons, he fires the live rounds back at the combatant droids. While their training blasters were useless against the thick durasteel plated training droids— as they were meant to be in a simulation— the live rounds actually do sufficient damage. He breezes past Echo and Wrecker's battle stations. Instructs his droid to punch the other droids that managed to get past his initial rain of fire. And as he weakens their defenses his brothers move in with vibroblades, perfectly placed stun shots, and raw strength.

A little bit of pride swells in his chest. The tides appear to be turning in their favor. If they can keep up this pace, their outcome will be favorable.

With his vantage point, Tech spots a droid sneaking up on Wrecker, who is otherwise occupied by beating another droid into submission.

"Wrecker, look alive," he warns. Wrecker lets out a sound of confusion before whirring around to find his next victim. It only takes an impressive suplex and Echo jabbing the droid in the neck for the danger to be adverted. But a new danger has begun to emerge.

Warning signs start flashing across Tech's vambrace screen. His rewriting job had to be hasty, which means he did not get the chance to secure every single circuit. His rush may prove to be their downfall as the connection flickers in and out. The droid sways beneath him and he fights to remain on its shoulders.

"I can't sustain the connection," he says through grit teeth. But with two more enemies stalking toward him he has no choice but to hope he can hold on through the end. His droid manages a weak strike against one of the attacking bots, and a few point blank shots in the face of the other. The connection suddenly re-establishes with full strength, and he grins with glee.

But his success is only temporary. His ride jolts backward as a droid from the upper tier manages to shoot right though its chest— right into the main circuitboard, Tech realizes with dismay. He can't do anything but watch as the droid gets hit a few more times and explodes beneath him. The surge of the blast sends Tech flying backward with much more force than would have been a problem had he simply fallen off the droid. His body hits the ground back-first, ripping the air from his lungs. And then he bounces. When he hits it again, the back of his head slams into the durasteel floor and his vision swims with black dots. Tech tries to blink through the cloudiness of his vision, barely aware of somebody yelling his name through the ringing in his ears.

Everything suddenly hurts. The back of his legs are hot and the smell of burnt plastoid is even more putrid than earlier. Considering how long the droid had been engaging in active battle, and the numerous shots straight to the power source... the heat of combustion had to have been fairly significant. Perhaps even sufficient enough to melt his armor, he realizes with a deep groan.

"Tech!" his name reaches him this time. A little clearer. Definitely Wrecker. He tries to lift his head but only succeeds in lobbing it to the side. But it's enough to see Wrecker crouched a few meters away. "Hold tight, buddy."

Tech can see the consistent shower of blaster shots still thick in the air. It is a full-on battlefield tucked within the confines of Kamino's training facility.

"I'm..." he starts to say, attempting to assure Wrecker that he's okay, but even the act of raising his arm and head is enough to send a jolt of pain down his back and limbs. His vision blurs again and he suddenly is whipped by exhaustion. His adrenaline has finally dropped off and it is pulling him down with it. Tech collapses back on to the ground, letting out a shaky sigh. "...not going anywhere."

He wants to help. But he runs the numbers in his head even as the aura of a migraine starts to dance before his eyes. With the number of droids and taking into account their individual firepower abilities paired with handicaps that come from limited programming and movement, Tech calculates that they have a 46% chance of success without his help.

They've won on lesser odds.

And when he takes into consideration the alternate scenario of him pushing through his current injuries and attempting to aid them in completing the simulation, their chance of success actually reduces to 41%. He knows his presence would distract the rest of his squad, or introduce a number of uncertain variables he is too tired to take into account at the moment.

Well, the math does not lie, he thinks, and lets his eyes flutter shut.

Wrecker watches Tech's body go limp and he seriously considers running at that last droid and tearing its head clean off with his bare hands. His youngest brother mutters something he can't really hear— whatever it is, his voice is pinched with pain. Not a good sign.

This needs to end now.

As though Crosshair was reading his mind, the sniper appears out of nowhere with his rifle at the ready. (Sometimes Wrecker wonders if he really can read minds. It wouldn't surprise him.)

"Wrecker, knife!" he yells. He has no idea what Cross is gonna do, but he unsheathes his knife and throws it in the air with a backspin. Crosshair shoots and strikes his knife mid-air, sending it blade first straight between the eyes of the last droid.

"Wow," he says in amazement.

There's a moment of quiet after the droid falls. Wrecker stands at his full height, still in awe that Cross managed to actually get that shot! He knows his brother's aim is impressive but wow— sometimes it's just next level.

Wrecker suddenly remembers Tech still lying next to the burnt leftovers of his pet droid. He and Echo rush to his side. Though Tech has pushed himself to a sitting position, Wrecker has enough experience with explosives and getting too close to them to notice how his brother refuses to let the back of his legs touch anything. On top of if, he saw the way his head bounced against the floor. Wrecker's no medic, but he knows a solid hit to the noggin when he sees one. Tech's usually sharp eyes are unfocused. The smears of carbon scoring across the lenses aren't helping, so he tries to wipe it away with his gloves. He only succeeds in making the smearing worse, but what worries him more is that his younger brother didn't react like he usually does when anyone tries to touch his goggles. Usually he jerks away, insists he can fix them himself. But now he's just... staring at nothing. It sends a spike of worry through Wrecker's large body.

As they attempt to pull him to his feet, he glances down at the state of Tech's armor. A shutter runs up his spine.

It's not good. He can't tell if the red that is dripping down Tech's boots and onto the floor is from his melted armor or blood... neither is a good sigh. And as soon as he and Echo get Tech to his feet, he immediately starts swaying to the side. Wrecker catches him under the arms, hearing a low hiss of pain and wondering if he should let him lie back again.

"Tech, are you okay?" Hunter asks as he and Crosshair make it to their position.

Tech's reply is very not-Tech like. A low groan. Not a single word. But he shifts his weight to his feet and gently pulls out of Wrecker's grasp to stand on his own.

"Techy you don't have to--"

"We're being watched," Crosshair interrupts. Wrecker looks up and realizes that Tarkin guy and Lama Su are still watching from the viewing gallery.

A part of him is glad they can't see the death stare on his face for shooting live rounds— live rounds!— at them.

Another part of him wants to give them a piece of his mind.

But as they disappear from sight, it becomes very obvious that Tech was only standing for their benefit. This time, his knees buckle and he falls forward. Hunter and Crosshair both lunge to catch him.

"He's out," Hunter says as they gently lower him to the ground. Now the overhead lights shine down on Tech's back and all of them freeze.

"Shit," Crosshair curses. The explosion melted his armor for sure. But what concerns them all is the mess of raw skin and melted blacks behind his knees and at his ankles. "Where the hell is medical?"

For some reason, when Tech awoke he expected to be staring at the ceiling of a med tent. It is a natural association to make in his newly conscious state. He suffered an injury due to an explosion, which is usually a scenario that is only possible in an active battlefield situation.

Hence, why seeing the sterile white ceiling of the Kamino ceiling sent him into a momentary panic. Did they cart me straight back to Kamino from the battlefield? Am I that injured? Does this mean I am being decommissioned?

He begins to try and sit up, but strong hands press down on his chest. It takes a few rounds of blinking to clear the tears that have welled up in his eyes. Echo and Crosshair stand on either side of his bed. Still in their armor. Both wide-eyed and looking quite exhausted as they attempt to calm him.

"Breathe, Tech," Echo says, demonstrating by drawing in his own large breath and slowly releasing it through his pursed lips. Tech imitates him until the tightness in his chest subsides. And he remembers.

A simulation. We were doing a training exercise. I was sitting atop the shoulders of a droid and... the droid combusted.

Right. Suddenly the numbness in his legs and the dull bite of a waning migraine make sense.

"Did we win at least?" Tech asks, looking between Crosshair and Echo.

"You don't remember?" The sniper asks carefully.

Tech remembers falling. A white hot pain. And then a lot of yelling and a lot of darkness.

"My current memory of the end of the exercise seems to be a bit... murky."

Echo and Crosshair exchange glances.

"We destroyed all the droids," Echo says finally.

"Wrecker was pleased about that part," the sniper mutters.

"So we won then. That's good." Both of them are silent for a long moment. Long enough that Tech replays their conversation up to that point wondering if he said something incorrect. From his point of view, there has been nothing that would offend either of them. So why they are acting so strange is beyond his understanding, unless they are withholding other context from while he was unconscious. "...isn't it?"

Finally Crosshair clears his throat. "None of us would consider you getting blown up a mission success, Tech."

"Well, technically, I didn't blow up, the droid—"

"Technically, nothing," Crosshair snaps at him. Echo glares at the sniper but doesn't exactly try to correct his outburst. "Either way, you got hurt."

Oh. So they are worried about his condition. For the first time since he's woken up, Tech cranes his head to look down at himself. He's in a thin, medical gown. No wonder he was feeling a bit of a draft. His bare legs are completely wrapped in thick bacta strips. That explains the numbness as well.

"How... bad?"

"Not as bad as it looks," Echo admits. "Mostly second-degree burns on your legs with a few small spots of third degree burns. No concussion and no grafts needed. Doc said after this round of bacta they'll rewrap and we can take you back to the barracks. It'll just feel like you have a bad sunburn for a few days."

That's good news at least. He does feel much better. Not in terrible pain like before, though Tech suspects the IV in his arm might have something to do with that.

"You passed out after the simulation," Crosshair says with a haunted stare.

"From the pain, I assume?"

"Also from the adrenaline dump." Echo shrugs. "We all came out of that with shaky legs."

"Speak for yourself," Crosshair mutters but Echo ignores him.

"None of us expected to fight for our lives today."

All of them can agree on that. Speaking of fighting for their lives, Tech realizes it's just the three of them. He looks to the beds at his left and right and find that they're empty. The memory of watching Wrecker's body crumble after getting shot flashes through Tech's mind and he tries to sit up again. This time Crosshair presses his hand against his back and helps him up.

"Where's Wrecker and Hunter? Are they alright?"

"Wrecker also had a burn on his chest, but they discharged him already. Hunter is with him," Echo smiles. "I think Wrecker said something about being hungry."

"Well, we didn't get much of a meal before this," Crosshair says bitterly.

Tech finally relaxes back into the pillow. His brothers are all safe, he's going to be discharged soon, and they completed their training exercise. It's a much better outcome than he expected from waking up in the med wing.

After his bacta is changed, Echo helps him into a fresh pair of blacks while Crosshair grabs his armor. The shirt is no problem, but the tight-fitting pants prove to be a more difficult feat.

"Maybe we can go get you a looser pair," Echo suggests as Tech has to literally bite down on his own lip to distract himself from the discomfort. Even with the barrier of bandages, the thick material feels scratchy against his sensitive skin. So bad that shivers run up his spine and he begins to feel a little nauseous.

"No," Tech pushes Echo's hand away. Honestly, the very thought of the pants having to peel back down his leg is worse than the idea of keeping them on. "I'll adjust." Echo seems hesitant but he doesn't fight him further. Tech gets his armor on-- sans the pieces that were melted in the explosion, of course. Those will require a trip to the armory to replace. (But he is not exactly jumping at the idea of restraining his swollen legs right now, anyway.)

"Ready?" Crosshair asks, though his facial expression looks as though he won't believe a word that comes out of Tech's mouth no matter what.

"Indeed."

They walk slowly back to the barracks, taking the long route to pick up Hunter and Wrecker from the caf. For the first few corridors, the scratchy feeling is agonizing. He has to walk with stiff legs to avoid bending his knees too much. It earns him his fair share of strange looks from the regs that pass, though they usually look at him like he was some sort of abomination, so it doesn't bother him. (Tech hypothesizes it has something to do with his goggles and how they stick out of his helmet. Makes him look quite different from even his own squad.)

But as they reach the caf, the stinging has begun to fade. His body is adjusting, as he predicted. The pain receptors in his legs are finally recognizing that it isn't a stimulus worth the trouble to continue griping about. He manages to bend his knees just enough that his stiffness isn't so obvious, more of a limp.

Wrecker's joyful tone rings out as soon as they grow near to the cafeteria. The largest of their brothers appears around the corner, his face brightening as he breaks into a run. "Tech!" Echo and Crosshair are quick to jump in and stop him from body slamming Tech.

"Easy, Wrecker, you know better than any of us how it feels to get blown up," Crosshair says before stepping aside for Wrecker to pull Tech into a bear hug. He sees Cross glance at Echo and then smirk. "Well, maybe that's not true. Echo here might have us all beat."

The former ARC trooper rolls his eyes. "Very funny."

Wrecker releases Tech. Somehow without aggravating his burns too badly. He is glad he opted to wear his helmet instead of carrying it. The mask hides his wince as pain shoots up his legs when Wrecker drops him back on the floor.  "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"As am I," he replies sheepishly. They start to make their way back toward their barracks. "Though I hardly blew up, it was merely a droid overheating."

"Did it have smoke and fire?" Wrecker asks.

"Minimal, but yes."

"Did it make a boom sound?"

"Well I'm not sure I would classify--"

"And did you get thrown really hard and burn your butt off?"

Tech sighs. "Perhaps."

Wrecker shrugs with a smug grin, looking around at the others. "You may be the expert on most things, Tech, but I know explosions. And that sounds a lot like an explosion to me."

Crosshair chuckles, his face in its usual sneer as he pats Tech's shoulder pauldron.

"It's alright," Echo whispers to him as Wrecker starts a loud tangent about getting shot at. "Means you get to be a part of the Got Blown Up Club. Meetings are bimonthly."

Not exactly a club Tech expected to be joining at a battle simulation. But then again, when do things ever go right for their squad in normal circumstances? He is curious to see what justification they had for such an irresponsible stunt. Tech has a sinking feeling Tarkin and Echo's claim that he hates clones has something to do with it.

[downwiththemutantnjnjaturtles]

Vulnerable [chapt. 1/2]

[2012 Leo x reader]

Based off of a request from an Anon: "A reader who is good at archery?" and the art is in fact mine, signature in the corner.

Leonardo grimaced as he walked. On his bad leg he still limped a bit, but he no longer was so dependent on his crutches. Every step was a twinge of pain in his knee, but he continued, bow in hand and looking for prey. The rest of the team was back at the farmhouse—he wanted to do this alone. He needed to do something. For himself and everyone else. 

He crept along the forest floor, senses hyper-aware of all of the things around him, as with his injured leg, he felt vulnerable. He jumped when a bird shot out of a tree nearby with another one hot on its tail feathers. When had he become so easy to start? Of course, as a ninja, he was trained to be skeptical. Aware. But he'd never felt so jumpy as he did after coming out of his coma, his throat wrecked and his knee in just as bad a condition. He took in a deep breath, then released it. Focus. 

He definitely felt like he was being watched. He was in a sea of trees and bush, wandering and out of his element, having come from the city. It was such a jarring change to have been struck down in a construction site on that frightening day, only to wake up three months later in a quaint farmhouse outside of New York City. His stomach churned slightly recalling what he could remember from his encounter with the Shredder and the wave after wave of Foot Bots. The cold rain, and their mortal enemy's imposing figure stood above him before going in for the kill. He shook himself of those thoughts—not now. Today was sunny. He had to look around him for a second as if to assure that there was light shrouding everything. That there were no shadows to hide in. Shifting his footing, his knee suddenly jerked forward and sent a shot up pain up his leg. He had to resist making noise, but in that moment, a shudder ran down his spine. The sheer pain, he remembered, of the Shredder's blades catching his neck. The trauma to his knee. He didn't know when he'd started breathing heavily, still and partially leaning on his bow. When would he ever be able to recall that day without it shaking him so deeply? Would the memories hit him during his next and inevitable meeting with Shredder? 

But he couldn't think about that now, not as he heard rustling in the brush ahead of him. He stilled. Crouching, he took to the large trunk of an oak and hid behind it, peering around the corner to catch a glimpse of what he was hearing. It sounded big; likely a deer. As long as he didn't engage with a buck and his fearsome rack of antlers, he would be okay. His knee ached as he kneeled there. No sudden movements, he reminded himself. 

He looked around the side of the tree and saw it. A tall, proud buck and his air of regality, eating from a plant and seemingly unaware of Leo's presence. This was his chance to make himself useful. To stick it to his cursed leg that he wouldn't let it stop him. 

Rising as slowly and quietly as he could, he lifted his bow and drew an arrow. He had to find the perfect moment. But he also couldn't wait too long, otherwise he would lose the animal. The buck paused his meal and looked up, smelling the air. He ducked back behind the tree when it actually turned its head toward him, almost as if in acknowledgement. But deer's eyes didn't face forwards—if it were looking for a threat, it would have turned its head. Ignoring that detail, Leo knew it would get his scent quickly, so there was not much time to waste as he aimed, shooting for something vital. The buck stiffened, readying to bound off. He was just about to let loose the arrow when he blinked, and suddenly, there was nothing. The buck was gone, the clearing was empty, and he was extremely confused. He stood up, letting down his bow as he stepped out from behind the tree and looked around him. It had been there one moment, gone the next. 

He jolted when a twig snapped behind him. He spun around, arrow ready to fire. Standing only but a few feet away was the large creature looking down at him, and in his surprise, Leo hesitated. He wasn't sure what to do beside lower his weapon, eyes fixated on the impressive antlers the buck donned. Those could deliver a fierce blow. 

He was backing away, opting to ditch the effort and try again another time, because the animal was certainly strong. And not with his bad leg could he defend himself as much as he would have liked—but unnaturally fast, the buck charged forward anyway. Heart pumping, Leo gasped and drew his arrow, trying to get a clear shot on the animal as it vanished around him, disappearing behind trees, reappearing elsewhere, running at him from every which way. He let out a loud grunt when he was struck in the abdomen by it, disoriented and trying to gain his footing. He tried to dodge the oncoming attack, but his knee buckled, and he fell to the ground against the mossy trunk of a massive tree. His bow was dropped elsewhere. In a last resort, he swiped his knife from his belt, eyes flitting about. He expected another blow from the strange animal, but nothing came. He was left in shock sitting there as he regained his composure, only noticing the buck out of the corner of his eye one last time. 

He watched it, brow ridge furrowed intensely as he got up and snatched his bow from the ground. The buck only stared back, his reaching presence making an imprint in Leo's mind. He knew then that there was something else to this. He had no idea, not even a clue, of where to start with it. But the creature sauntered further into the trees, disappearing into the thicket. 

"What was that?" he muttered to himself, unable to look away from where he'd last seen it. 

He returned to the farmhouse later that night, meeting you at the front porch when he dragged himself up there. His knee was irritated to all hell from the exertion, and you could tell, too; he favored his good leg when he stepped, wincing as he came over. It was then that you noticed he looked a little more rough than you'd originally thought. 

"Leo?" you said, meeting him at the stairs. He tried to give you a smile, but it was obvious he was absolutely beat, his leg was hurting, and overall, not in a good way. "Are you okay? What happened out there?" 

You helped him up the steps with an arm around him, supporting his heavy weight as he made his way into the house. He groaned, a little shameful, "I got attacked by a...deer."

He left his bow and quiver at the door. A deer? You gave him a questioning look, and he continued, "Yeah, a deer. Like with the antlers. It came at me when it realized I was there. I've never seen something move so fast." 

You were going to help him to the couch, but he shrugged your arm off with a sheepish smile, getting there himself. You sat down next to him. "So, an angry buck?" you asked. He nodded. "Weird...it's not mating season. Usually, they aren't so aggressive." 

"Well, this one was," he said, "and I know this is going to sound weird, but…" 

He knew it would be hard to explain why he suspected this was something otherworldly, due to the teleporting. He'd seen it clearly with his own two eyes. Still, it was just as confusing to him to think about as it would have been for you to hear.

"Wait, how do you know that?" he inquired. He looked over at you, blue eyes falling on yours. 

You chuckled, "My dad was into hunting, so I picked up some stuff as a kid. You learn that pretty early on; the antlers on those things can really tear you up. Though...you're lucky for having natural armor." Gesturing toward his bow and arrow, you bumped his shoulder with your own. "I'd say I'm good with one of those." 

Leo quirked his brow, curious for you to go on. He didn't doubt your statement one bit; he'd seen how you watched him practice, how sometimes, he'd catch you idly running your hand along the curves of the bow. "How good would you say you are?" 

Grinning, you padded across the room and got his bow, drawing back the string experimentally. It had been a while. You threw a glance back at him over your shoulder. "Fairly," you replied, setting it down. "I think my parents started me out when I was twelve or so. With one of those kiddie bows, the ones that are easy to pull back? I'm no master, but maybe...I could come out and help you next time? I don't think any of us should be going out alone, anyway, especially you with your…"

He noticed your eyes had fallen on his injured leg. 

"Uh, hold on. I'm not an invalid, [y/n]." 

He didn't want to be snappish, but the last part irked him a little. He could handle himself out there. How well he could was a different story, but nonetheless, he felt weirdly infantile hearing that. It should have been him telling you that and offering to help, not the other way around. 

Damn his leg. 

Still, he knew he had to swallow his pride, for now. He really was in no shape to be wandering the woods on his own. He also noticed that it was a great opportunity to bond with you more without everyone around to overanalyze it. 

"You know, I...I appreciate it. I know you're just trying to help." He tried to hide the disappointment he was feeling with himself, but it was easily replaced by more positive prospects. He hadn't ever spent that much time with you alone, as they were always going, going, going. The farmhouse and surrounding woods was a slow change of pace—a good change of pace. But even then, he still couldn't always get away from everyone else, especially Mikey and Casey. "What do you say we go out tomorrow?" 

You nodded, "I say it's a date!" 

"Y–yeah," He laughed, looking down at the floor. "It's a...yeah. I'm going to go to bed now. Goodnight, [y/n]." 

"Night," you said as he headed up the stairs. 

Mind on the kitchen for a drink before you went to bed yourself, you were slightly surprised to see April there, leaning against the counter with a curious smile on her face. "Oh, hey, April," you mumbled, reaching past her for a glass. 

"Hey," she cooed, "so, a date, huh?" A knowing grin crossed her face, along with that twinkle in her eye she got any time something like this came up. 

Face beginning to flush, you chuckled awkwardly as you filled up your glass from the tap. "Uh, it's more like a...it's not really a date. I just said that. For some reason. We're gonna go out into the woods and scope it out for a little bit." You glanced out of the corner of your eye and saw her sat at the kitchen table, patting the chair next to her. A date? Like that? No. In fact, he was likely offended to some degree that you even proposed helping him out. Not with how sensitive he was about his knee, lately, which was a hindrance to him. But you wanted to help, that's what friends were for. And maybe spending some time away from the antics of his brothers and Casey wasn't such a bad idea, either…

You were going to slip out of the kitchen, but April was set on getting the details. "Come on, girl talk!" she said, low enough so no one else would hear, but you could hear the excitement in her voice. "Did he get embarrassed? Oh, what about bringing lunch? Like a picnic, in the woods," she suggested, clasping her hands. "Quiet, away from you-know-who. It would be nice!" 

"Okay, okay, slow down there," you said. You took a seat next to her and looked behind you into the living room to make sure there wasn't anyone there, then added, "You see, I don't know for sure…" 

...if Leo felt the same way. There was a hunch, but that wouldn't do—you couldn't go off of a mere inkling, lest you ruin good friendship turning things weird. You liked him. How obvious it was, you didn't know, but you never tried to show it on purpose. 

April noticed the uncertainty of your expression and put her hand on yours in your lap. She could feel your hesitance over the subject. "You're worried that he doesn't feel the same way about you," she stated softly. "Is that it?" 

"In short," you answered with a small shrug as you kept your gaze on the edge of the table. 

She tilted her head in thought, humming to herself. "Well, I think you should go for it, if that's how you feel." 

Looking up at her, you inquired, "What if it makes things awkward between us?" That was the last thing you wanted. 

"I think Leo might have a crush on you," she said finally. "Of course, I can't tell you definitely, but...it's just the vibe he gives me."

Your heart fluttered. April's intuition had always seemed pretty on point; you trusted her judgement more often than not. The question was, did you have the guts to come out with it to him, or would it be another time gone past? Hung up on her words, you blinked. "Do you think so?" you asked honestly. 

She nodded and gave a reassuring smile. "I won't pressure you, but I still think you'll have a great time. I can put together a basket, if you want. We don't have much besides sandwiches, though." April was considerate. It was easy to feel comfortable around her; she was a gentle soul outside of combat, and supportive of yours and everyone else's pursuits (so long as they weren't harmful.) Especially pursuits of love, when they weren't directed at herself. 

You thanked her as you got up, to which she replied that it was no problem. Leo's door was cracked slightly open, you'd found out when you passed by, and inside he was fast asleep. he tended to leave it ajar out of habit; he felt that he needed to be able to hear what was going on in the rest of the house in case something happened, paranoid of ambushes. The only time he wasn't conscious of his bad leg was when he was unconscious, and even then, you had a suspicion that he dreamed about it sometimes. Maybe even had nightmares. You recalled seeing him toss and turn one night while muttering incoherent things after he'd fallen asleep on the couch in the lounge, almost rolling off the side before you decided to wake him. Both the mental and physical wound was fresh at that time, so he panicked himself awake feeling your hand lightly shake his shoulder. He apologized as you tried to help him, instead taking his crutches and left by himself. 

But Leo seemed to be having good dreams, tonight. You stopped just for a moment to watch him through the ajar door, seeing that his face was not tense, he wasn't moving around, and looked to be more at peace than he had in a while. That was all you needed to know.

"He looks pretty calm right now," a voice, Raph's, commented out from the blue next to you. He was leaned against the wall, arms crossed as he watched his sleeping brother. "Last few nights were rough. Wonder what has him all peaceful all of a sudden."

You couldn't mistake Raph's unusually soft disposition, even if he talked as gruffly as always. "Does he have bad dreams about it often?" you questioned him. Both of you knew what you were talking about, the event in New York City that landed them all at the farmhouse to begin with. 

Sighing, he answered with a light scoff, "More like nightmares." For a second, you thought he was annoyed by you asking, but he continued, shaking his head. "This just…I can't stand seein' him like this. Not like this, this, but on those nights he gets nightmares, and the hobbling around…"

"It really sucks."

"Big time." 

A silence fell between the two of you, but it wasn't uncomfortable. You both bonding over your mutual care for Leo and his well-being, brought together by circumstance. Raph went to bed. You did, too, thinking all the way that Leo deserved a good day. A normal-as-could-be day. 

You'd take April up on that picnic idea, you decided. 

——————————————————————

a/n: yeahh i find it difficult to believe Leo wouldn't have some kind of lowkey trauma aside physical after his last encounter with Oroku Saki before the Farmhouse