#he meant well with Tarn

[transingthoseformers]

I've been thinking of Walking Through Shards of Glass as well. Specifically, the SG counterparts and Shockwave. While he is compassionate and open-minded now and hasn't made weapons until the fusion cannon. He was different pre-war and was not actually concerned about the public welfare or anything. He made his Outlier school for clout and to look charitable but didn't actually care if it didn't affect him. He was very selfish and used people.

He paid lip service to the values but had been raised to always look out for himself first. Then, the government betrayed him, with Optronix's help, to make a point (and because he was Zeta/Senrinel's enemy in OP's case) and he dropped the mask. His outliers went to Optronix except Damus who went to Megatron whom Shockwave had been wary of to ask for help.

They assisted in freeing him, and Soundwave took him into his care. Damus died in the process and told Shockwave that whatever his reasons he was still his hero and did more for him than anyone else had ever. Shockwave recovered and learned how to trust people and actively chose to be more compassionate to become the person Damus (and Shockwave when he was younger) had deserved.

It pains him that he failed his students, who he should have sheltered and instead used. This is part of why he immediately went to bat for Tarn. He was a second chance to make things right for a different Damus/Glitch.

Ooo??? Interesting way to depict sg Shockwave considering what we know of him in canon sg and what we know of his baseline Senator days

He got into this for his own reasons, but he came out of it a more genuine person of his own volition. He regrets what happened, and of course this influenced how he viewed tarn. Did Tarn have positive stories of his own previous mentor that made sg Shockwave's spark keen with what would have been?

This second failure had to have been so painful, and inventing the fusion cannon had to go against everything he stood for in this war.

[gl1tt3r-gutz-and-r0b0tz-sl]

'Why can't I be happy now....? I'm who I was always supposed to be..'

FTM starscream!

Here's my first entry into the Starscream week day 1! origin/ past. @starscreamweek

Here’s a bit of an info dump about Starscream’s origins in my AU, Transformers Oblivion:

Starchaser, now known as Starscream, was originally female. She was abandoned by her mother, like many others, and sent away to the slums of Cybertron. Abandoned sparklings usually end up being trafficked, used for target practice for the many gangs that have formed, or were forced into the Arena. The Arena is the largest, most brutal gladiator pit in the entire planet, and the sparklings lucky enough to survive just to be sent there, are trained to fight and kill. While the Arena is a place of fighting, many gambles are placed per match, to see who will live to fight again and climb the ranks. Starchaser and Arcee were both lucky enough to make it. Arcee excelled, being the youngest, and most violent fighter there, exhibiting cannibalistic qualities and actions. Starchaser is highly intelligent, using the environment around her to her advantage. Starchaser always felt off, it could've been the prejudice she received due to her optic color and sex when forged, or it could be that she was never satisfied when looking in her reflection.

Starchaser always wanted to protect Arcee, since that’s what Arcee does for her all the time. Even though Starchaser is bigger than her, she’d never be able to match her strength. One day, while both of them just turned 18 cycles old and both had won their matches, the duo meet an older Cybertronian male going by the name Megatron. He is one of the top patrons of the Arena and a reigning champion of the pit, in addition, he is one of Arcee’s biggest idols since she saw him fight. He offers them both a deal that neither can reject. He offers Arcee to train by him, to become one of his apprentices alongside a male a little older than the girls named Tarn. Megatron offers Starchaser with two opportunities. The first is that Starchaser is able to get an education if she accepts being enlisted in the future army Megatron is forming. The second is that he’s able to give her a body she finally will feel comfortable in, the body her spark was meant to reside in. Both accept, and in this comic, the last frame is the girl’s celebration for Starchaser once finding out about the University accepting her application. 

Starchaser studies to become a scientist, Arcee trains alongside Megatron. Both still keep in touch frequently, hanging out and goofing off whenever they get the chance. This goes on for at least seven cycles until the war finally broke out and everything went to ruin. Starchaser and Arcee were both brought into the base of the newly formed and strengthened Decepticon faction. Work was done to both of their bodies. Arcee got a more feminine frame, looking cuter to throw off opponents and Starchaser finally got the body she desired, a male, strong frame While operating on the two, Shockwave wiped both their memory banks. Arcee was wiped completely, her body only remembering her training and maneuvers, while Starchaser’s memory had gaps in it, where he couldn’t remember what his beloved, childhood ally looked like, but he knew he loved her dearly. The gaps in his memory, and the knowledge that Megatron had something to do with it, led Starscream to form an intense hatred against him. The reason Starscream wishes to become leader is to spare his fellow soldiers from their fates as he knows they were most likely wiped as well, and to regain his own memories when accessing all the files Shockwave and Soundwave have saved, hoping to find his own. 

In the comic above, Starscream breaks down not just by the reminder of not being himself when with who he loves, but by the fact that they both try to kill each other daily.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #12 – What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

I initially meant to read this back last year when it was up for a Hugo nomination, but well – honestly I forgot my copy in an airport waiting room and it’s presumably now living a good life somewhere in a New Jersey compose heap. But a friend had a copy and said they enjoyed it, so! Stole it for a few days, and very glad I did. It’s a quick, fun shot fungal gothic, great for stormy nights.

The basic plot is, well, it’s very explicitly Fall of the House of Usher with a slight admixture of Ruritanian Romance. The Ushers are a genteely impoverished family of minor aristocracy in Ruravia, a less than impressive principality in Eastern Europe. Alex Easton, Roderick Usher’s former commanding officer in some recent war (the Gallacian Army they served in having a habit of getting into these quite habitually) receives a letter from Roderick’s sister Madeline begging company and help, as she is deathly ill. Of course by the time Easton arrives the pair of them look like they’re one stiff wind away from dying, and the estate and the lands around it are both decaying and full of unnerving strangeness. The only person who seems happy to be there is Eugenia Potter, an Englishwoman and amateur mycologist studying the great variety of mushrooms and fungus to be found in the area.

So yes this is very much aiming to be Gothic Classic, at least in aesthetics and trappings. An overgrown and decaying estate several times too large for the last remnants of the family who now occupy it. Genteel madness and disease, hidden behind polite euphemisms and high walls. A deep, atavistic horror at parasitism and the desecration of the human (especially the well-bred, young and female) body by an alien presence. There’s even a cowboy for some reason. It definitely all works for me, but then my exposure to the genre is all a bit second hand.

Speaking of parasitism – mushrooms! The book expresses decay and desecration basically entirely through the idiom of fungal infections, both in terms of metaphor and imagery in descriptions and just in the actual source of the horror here. The lights in the tarn are fungal blooms, Madeline’s disease and her reanimation are both the result of almost drowning and inhaling that fungus into her lungs, and so on. There are two really effective horror beats in the book for me – the image of an infected hare which had just had its head shot off slowly jerking back to its feet as a dozen others placidly stood there and watched it be shot, and the moment of realization that Madeline’s oddly long and wispy body hair is in fact mycelia growing out of her skin – and both play off of this pretty directly.

I very awkwardly didn’t use any pronouns for Easton when giving the plot synopsis because the book actually plays around a bit with gender and pronouns in a way I’ve always loved and wish I saw more of. Easton is Gallacian (unrelated to the actually existing Galicia, I think), and the Gallacian language has a variety of pronoun sets beyond just he and she – one for children, one for God, and one (ka/kan) particularly for soldiers. Which, due to the exigencies of early modern warefare’s manpower requirements, eventually led to both men and women being perfectly eligible to become ‘sworn soldiers’. So y’know, Enlist today! Service guarantees citizen-transition!

(But actually I enjoy the thought and at least superficial sociological plausibility/consideration of what gender means in Gallacian society a lot more than how a lot of modern spec fic just kind of assues that every culture in the world has the perspective on gender of a well-educated 21st century progressive, material conditions be damned).

Anyway yeah, overall very entertaining read. Though Goodreads tells me it’s now the first in the series, which given how cleanly this one ended is not something that fills me with an abundance of faith.

[cozzzynook]

During the battle with Tarn. Hot Rod is sparked. When Tarn goes to hit him. Hot Rod calls for the sire to protect their sparkling. Soundwave attacks Tarn and then looks at Hot Rod in surprise.

1. hot rod enters this battle having a very very strong feeling he was sparked but didn’t have time to try going to a safe zone since Tarn blocked them all off from the civilians. So he had no choice but to fight and hope for the best.

2. He saw Soundwave fall from a dirty move Tarn used on him and his instincts triggered making him lunge at the mech from behind and grip him. Turning on his outlier he consumed both of them in flames that left the mech screaming in agony as he burned from the inside out. But the problem with this is that Hot rod didn’t have the stamina or energy to use this move the way he usually did and even then he conserved a lot of energy to completely turn his victim to ash. So being sparked, tired and stressed, he couldn’t use it for long. Which means he used it for less than two kliks and Tarn was able to rip him off and grip his neck cables.

3. He was a lot weaker than he usually would be and he cursed himself for not thinking and panicking when he felt the mech look into his optics and gaze down at his tanks and smirk behind the mask. “No.” His words made the mech thrilled and he found himself kicking his pedes out with his servos leaving the mechs wrist to protect his tanks as his spark let off a wave of desperation.

Soundwave’s spark answered.

The mech didn’t use a sound blast or the sword that was imbedded in his side.

He used his tentacles to wrap around Tarns throat and the other around his chassis and punched through Tarns spinal struts and gripped his spark casing with his claws before twisting with a deep engine snarl and yanking it from the mechs core.

4. Hot rod fell into Soundwaves who used his frame to cushion the fall and Hot rod immediately began fretting over him even as his vision swam and he struggled to vent.

5. Soundwave wasn’t even feeling the sword in his side anymore. He was consumed by the spark of his secret conjunx and the budding new spark that was nestled within his conjunx who wouldn’t let Soundwave lay him down and check him over.

“Hook! Soundwaves hurt! Please! Get over here!”

He really wanted to tell his conjunx he was fine and this was nothing compared to the countless injuries he sustained over the countless millennia’s he’s fought as a gladiator then high general during the great wars and civil war.

“Hot rod: cease this instant,” he used their bond to communicate and thankfully Hot rod listened to him.

“Soundwave: fine. Hot rod and sparkling: in need of care. Outlier: foolish idea that my spark appreciates,” he allowed their bond to ebb and flow with an overwhelming amount of emotions he couldn’t begin to process as he held Hot rod in against his frame and allowed Hook to get close so he could begin tending to the two.

Soundwave ordered the medic to check Hot rod first as they managed to get away from any prying opticed Autobots as the last of Tarns army was dealt with.

Soundwave laid himself and Hot rod on the gurney as Hook worked on them both and brought them to the Nemesis where Megatron ordered him to stay and told his cassettes to retreat and guars the two of them.

Every bot within the mileage felt the carrier pulse Hot rod gave off and those old enough to remember knew exactly what it meant. So he was not surprised to find Ratchet in the med unit with Deadlock beside him checking over Hot rod and surprisingly himself when he woke.

“He and the sparkling are fine but he’s exhausted himself. He’ll wake in a few days but knowing Hot rod he’ll make himself wake in a few hours. I trust you’ll force him back to recharge.”

He nodded and gave acknowledgment to the assassin who acknowledged him back before following Ratchet closely after the medic informed him he was recovering well and on berth rest like the majority of bots would be.

When the room was empty and he was sure the pain dullers kicked in, Soundwave shifted and rested a digit on Hot rod’s spark that had its usual lively hum. From this alone he couldn’t tell he was sparked but with his digit turned servo tracing down to Hot rod’s tanks he could.

Just the subtle raise and firmer rounding of his forge was the indicator to match the sparklings energy line to Hot rods spark that he could faintly trace when he paid attention.

Hot rods forge felt a bit warmer than usual and he was sure his gestation tank was fully fluid and thickened to ensure it would not pop making their sparkling viable and ready for safe growth.

‘Wonderful,’ he shared with ease, weeping spark to welcoming energies that soaked his emotions with fervor making him smile beneath the mask.

As always Hot rod was greedy for him and he was a glutton in giving him all he wanted only now his appetite would expand and make room for the tiny life that eagerly accepted him as their sire.

“Thank you,” his servo communicated for him as he laid it flat on Hot rods tanks.

When the mech onlined they would celebrate the new life they created together and he would get to berate his soul conjunx for endangering himself and their sparkling.

Shifting closer so they were laying frame to frame and touching as much as all the bandaged and medical wirings allowed, Soundwave rested his helm beside Hot rods.

‘I hope they aren’t wreckless like you, my sweet spark but I surely hope they have your soul.’

[jeannereames]

I see you talk a lot about historiography! What would you consider the most important development of Alexander’s historiography?

What the Hell is Historiography? (And why you should care)

This question and the next one in the queue are both going to be fun for me. 😊

First, some quick definitions for those who are new to me and/or new to reading history:

Historiography = “the history of the histories” (E.g., examination of the sources themselves rather than the subject of them…a topic that typically incites yawns among undergrads but really fires up the rest of us, ha.)

primary sources = the evidence itself—can be texts, art, records, or material evidence. For ancient history, this specifically means the evidence from the time being studied.

secondary sources = writings by historians using the primary evidence, whether meant for a “regular” audience (non-specialists) or academic discussions with citations, footnotes, and bibliography (sometimes referred to as “full scholarly apparatus”).

For ancient history, we also sometimes get a weird middle category…they’re not modern sources but also not from the time under discussion, might even be from centuries after the fact. Consider the medieval Byzantine “encyclopedia” called the Suda (sometimes Suidas), which contains information from now lost ancient sources, finalized c. 900s CE. To give a comparison, imagine some historian a thousand years from now studying Geoffry Chaucer from the 1300s, using an entry about him in some kid’s 1975 World Book Encyclopedia that contains information that had been lost by his day.

This middle category is especially important for Alexander, since even our primary sources all date hundreds of years after his death. Yes, those writers had access to contemporary accounts, but they didn’t just “cut-and-paste.” They editorialized and selected from an array of accounts. Worse, they rarely tell us who they used. FIVE surviving primary Alexander histories remain, but he’s mentioned in a wide (and I do mean wide) array of other surviving texts. Alas this represents maybe a quarter of what was actually written about him in antiquity.

OKAY, so …

The most important historiographic changes in Alexander studies!

I’m going to pick three, or really two-and-a-half, as the last is an extension of the second.

FIRST …decentering Arrian as the “good” source as opposed to the so-called “vulgate” of Diodoros-Curtius-Justin as “bad” sources.

Many earlier Alexander historians (with a few important exceptions [Fritz Schachermeyr]) considered Arrian to be trustworthy, Plutarch moderately trustworthy if short, and the rest varying degrees of junk. W. W. Tarn was especially guilty of this. The prevalence of his view over Schachermeyr’s more negative one owed to his popularity/ease of reading, and the fact he wrote on Alexander for volume 6 of the first edition (1927) of the Cambridge Ancient History, later republished in two volumes with additions (largely in vol. 2) in 1948 and 1956. Thus, and despite being a lawyer (barrister) not a professional historian, his view dominated Alexander studies in the first half of the 20th century (Burn, Rose, etc.)…and even after. Both Mary Renault and Robin Lane Fox (neither of whom were/are professional historians either), as well as N. G. L. Hammond (with qualifications), show Tarn’s more romantic impact well into the middle of the second half of the 20th century. But you could find it in high school and college textbooks into the 1980s.

The first really big shift (especially in English) came with a pair of articles in 1958 by Ernst Badian: “The Eunuch Bagoas,” Classical Quarterly 8, and “Alexander the Great and the Unity of Mankind,” Historia 7. Both demolished Tarn’s historiography. I’ve talked about especially the first before, but it really WAS that monumental, and ushered in a more source-critical approach to Alexander studies. This also happened to coincide with a shift to a more negative portrait of the conqueror in work from the aforementioned Schachermeyr (reissuing his earlier biography in 1973 as Alexander der Grosse: Das Problem seiner Persönlichtenkeit und seines Wirkens) to Peter Green’s original Alexander of Macedon from Thames and Hudson in 1974, reissued in 1991 from Univ. of California-Berkeley. J. R. Hamilton’s 1973 Alexander the Great wasn’t as hostile, but A. B. Bosworth’s 1988 Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great turned back towards a more negative, or at least ambivalent portrait, and his Alexander in the East: The Tragedy of Triumph (1996) was highly critical. I note the latter two as Bosworth wrote the section on Alexander for the much-revised Cambridge Ancient History vol. 6, 1994, which really demonstrates how the narrative on Alexander had changed.

All this led to an unfortunate kick-back among Alexander fans who wanted their hero Alexander. They clung/still cling to Arrian (and Plutarch) as “good,” and the rest as varying degrees of bad. Some prefer Tarn’s view of the mighty conqueror/World unifier/Brotherhood-of-Mankind proponent, including that He Absolutely Could Not Have Been Queer. Conversely, others are all over the romance of him and Hephaistion, or Bagoas (often owing to Renault or Renault-via-Oliver Stone), but still like the squeaky-nice-chivalrous Alexander of Plutarch and Arrian.

They are very much still around. Quite a few of the former group freaked out over the recent Netflix thing, trotting out Plutarch (and Arrian) to Prove He Wasn’t Queer, and dismissing anything in, say, Curtius or Diodoros as “junk” history. But I also run into it on the other side, with those who get really caught up in all the romance and can’t stand the idea of a vicious Alexander.

It's not necessary to agree with Badian’s (or Green’s or Schachermeyr’s) highly negative Alexander to recognize the importance of looking at all the sources more carefully. Justin is unusually problematic, but each of the other four had a method, and a rationale. And weaknesses. Yes, even Arrian. Arrian clearly trusted Ptolemy to a degree Curtius didn’t. For both of them, it centered on the fact he was a king. I’m going to go with Curtius on this one, frankly.

Alexander is one of the most malleable famous figures in history. He’s portrayed more ways than you can shake a stick at—positive, negative, in-between—and used for political and moral messaging from even before his death in Babylon right up to modern Tik-Tok vids.

He might have been annoyed that Julius Caesar is better known than he is, in the West, but hands-down, he’s better known worldwide thanks to the Alexander Romance in its many permutations. And he, more than Caesar, gets replicated in other semi-mythical heroes. (Arthur, anybody?)

Alfred Heuss referred to him as a wineskin (or bottle)—schlauch, in German—into which subsequent generations poured their own ideas. (“Alexander  der  Große  und  die politische Ideologie  des Altertums,” Antike und Abendland 4, 1954.) If that might be overstating it a bit, he’s not wrong.

Who Alexander was thus depends heavily on who was (and is) writing about him.

And that’s why nuanced historiography with regard to the Alexander sources is so important. It’s also why there will never be a pop presentation that doesn’t infuriate at least a portion of his fanbase. That fanbase can’t agree on who he was because the sources that tell them about him couldn’t agree either.

SECOND …scholarship has moved away from an attempt to find the “real” Alexander towards understanding the stories inside our surviving histories and their themes. A biography of Alexander is next to impossible (although it doesn’t stop most of us from trying, ha). It’s more like a “search” for Alexander, and any decent history of his career will begin with the sources. And their problems.

This also extends to events. I find myself falling in the middle between some of my colleagues who genuinely believe we can get back to “what happened,” and those who sorta throw up their hands and settle on “what story the sources are telling us, and why.” Classic Libra. 😉

As frustrating as it may sound, I’m afraid “it depends” is the order of the day, or of the instance, at least. Some things are easier to get back to than others, and we must be ready to acknowledge that even things reported in several sources may not have happened at all. Or at least, were quite radically different from how it was later reported. (Thinking of proskynesis here.) Sometimes our sources are simply irreconcilable…and we should let them be. (Thinking of the Battle of Granikos here.)

THIRD/SECOND-AND-A-HALF …a growing awareness of just how much Roman-era attitudes overlay and muddy our sources, even those writing in Greek. It would be SO nice to have just one Hellenistic-era history. I’d even take Kleitarchos! But I’d love Marsyas, or Ptolemy. Why? Both were Macedonians. Even our surviving philhellenic authors such as Plutarch impose Greek readings and morals on Macedonian society.

So, let’s add Roman views on top of Greek views on top of Macedonian realities in a period of extremely fast mutation (Philip and Alexander both). What a muddle! In fact, one of the real advantages of a source such as Curtius is that his sources seem to have known a thing or three about both Achaemenid Persia and also Macedonian custom. He sometimes says something like, “Macedonian custom was….” We don’t know if he’s right, but it’s not something we find much in other histories—even Arrian who used Ptolemy. (Curtius may also have used Ptolemy, btw.)

In any case, as a result of more care given to the themes of the historians, a growing sensitivity to Roman milieu for all of them has altered our perceptions of our sources.

These are, to me, the major and most significant shifts in Alexander historiography from the late 1800s to the early 2100s.

[lord-squiggletits]

What is the Tarnma penpals au? I've seen you mention it a couple times and am super curious about it!

Hiiii

So the Pen Pals AU is an idea that I got a couple of weeks ago. Kind of self-explanatory by the name, but the idea is it's a post-war scenario with a diplomatic ending b/t the Autobots and Decepticons. One of the many efforts to normalize relations is a pen pals program that's set up to pair Autobots with Decepticons under randomized pseudonyms. The goal is to try and create positive relationships based only on these letters and not any preconceived notions based on faction or identity. (Also it's pre-Earth which means it's pre-Delphi for Pharma, so his normal non-traumatized personality features.)

Pharma and Tarn naturally get paired up under this program, and the first part of the AU/fic (yes I'm going to write it eventually) is them basically having their pen pals relationship turn from friendship to heavily implied mutual romantic attachment. Their individual daily lives are also shown bc each of them is dealing with their own identity-related crisis: Tarn struggling with depression and addiction in the aftermath of all the things he did for the DJD and confusion over why Megatron just had them change so suddenly. Pharma with the realization that his whole life has just been defined by his accomplishments and he's lived his life in a way where he's oft-respected and admired, but never loved for who he is as a person rather than what he does.

The whole AU was originally meant to be fluffy and slice-of-life-esque (there was even an arranged marriage component in the very first conception of the idea), but as I fleshed out the setting more, I realized I wanted to actually delve deep into the implications of a post-war setting. So the Pen Pals AU has taken a darker turn recently; not darker as in fluffy romance to dead dove, but it's more like, the fluffy romance develops and then the past/war comes back to haunt Tarn and Pharma's relationship in a way that's very (re)traumatizing, both for them individually and their chances of being able to stay together as a couple.

So the fact that Tarn was in the DJD/oversaw Grindcore and did countless atrocities is very much an element of the story that's explored rather than shied away from. At first he deals with it on his own, and for a while he lives in blissful ignorance knowing that his pen pal is the one relationship he has with a "normal person" (he knows that his pen pal is a doctor, aka not a hardened soldier and criminal). Unfortunately things get complicated when his pen pal asks to meet IRL because he wants them to be more than friends, and Tarn realizes that he can't move forward with this new, blooming relationship without being honest about who he is. On Pharma's end, he has to grapple with the idea of choosing love over reputation, following his heart rather than his fear of social rejection/ostracization. Especially when the consequences of continuing to date Tarn could go from just "people judging him" to.... well, that's what me eventually writing the fic is meant to reveal. :)

TLDR: Tarn and Pharma meet as anonymous pen pals, end up having a lot of shared issues re: loneliness and isolated public personas, help each other solve their personal problems, share a mutual love of music, and fall in love, then realize who the other is. Complications ensue.

[cabinofimagines]

Chapter IV; convincing

So it took a while, but at some point I realised I wanted to finish writing at least arc one before posting the rest so oops.

Word Count: 1.2k

<- prev - mlist - next ->

-Asnyox

You both re-entered the clearing, followed closely by an overly excited Mrs. O’Leary. 

"No problem, I've got worse enemies than overweight satyrs." You overheard Percy saying. Nico was the first of you two to speak up, letting your presence be known to the demigod and tree nymph. 

"Good job, Percy. Judging from the trail of goat pellets, I'd say you shook him up pretty well." You could see clearly that Percy was nervous as he tried to smile. You were aware that Nico had made it pretty clear to Percy what his plan was, and if you were in this kid’s shoes you would have been nervous too. Luckily, you were just an idiot tagging along in the plan.

"Welcome back. Did you come by just to see Juniper? And who is your friend?" Nico blushed and you wondered whether it was about the friend thing, or about Juniper.

"This is (Y/n), and um, no. That was an accident. I kind of . . . dropped into the middle of their conversation." Blushing out of embarrassment then, you inwardly cheered. He also did not deny the friend comment you happily noted.

"He scared us to death!" Juniper said. "Right out of the shadows. But, Nico, you are the son of Hades and all. Are you sure you haven't heard anything about Grover?" Nico shifted his weight. Ah, she must have been crying worried over her lover. You had caught some of the stories around camp, however you did not know any of these people personally, so you tended to mind your own business. 

"Juniper, like I tried to tell you . . . even if Grover died, he would reincarnate into something else in nature. I can't sense things like that, only mortal souls." "But if you do hear anything?" she pleaded, putting her hand on his arm. "Anything at all?" Nico's cheeks got even brighter red. "Uh, you bet. I'll keep my ears open." 

"We'll find him, Juniper," Percy promised. "Grover's alive, I'm sure. There must be a simple reason why he hasn't contacted us." She nodded glumly. "I hate not being able to leave the forest. He could be anywhere, and I'm stuck here waiting. Oh, if that silly goat has gotten himself hurt—" Mrs. O'Leary bounded back over and took an interest in Juniper's dress. Juniper yelped. "Oh, no you don't! I know about dogs and trees. I'm gone!" She went poof into green mist. You gaped at her disappearance, never having gotten close to a tree nymph before. 

Mrs. O'Leary looked disappointed, but she lumbered off to find another target, leaving Nico, Percy and me alone. Nico tapped his sword on the ground. A tiny mound of animal bones erupted from the dirt. They knit themselves together into a skeletal field mouse and scampered off. You were impressed by his control, but truly you felt as if this shouldn’t have come as a surprise. 

"I was sorry to hear about Beckendorf." Nico said and you downcast your gaze, having heard the news quiet recently. This was one of the first people from camp that you knew who died, and the news had taken a toll on camp. 

"How did you—" Percy started, and you were reminded that he was there with Beckendorf on the ship. "I talked to his ghost." So the rumours about Nico’s powers were true – he could actually converse with the dead. "Oh . . . right." "Did he say anything?" 

"He doesn't blame you. He figured you'd be beating yourself up, and he said you shouldn't." "Is he going to try for rebirth?" Nico shook his head. 

"He's staying in Elysium. Said he's waiting for someone. Not sure what he meant, but he seems okay with death." You weren’t sure how to feel about these developments, but before you could give it much thought Percy started talking again.

"I had a vision you were on Mount Tarn," he told Nico. "Was that—" 

"Real," Nico said. "I didn't mean to be spying on the Titans, but I was in the neighbourhood." "Doing what?" 

Nico tugged at his sword belt. "Following a lead on . . . you know, my family." Percy nodded. You side eyed your friend, wanting the ask for an elaboration. However, you had felt him close the moment Percy started asking questions to him. You had heard a whisper about a sister, but there was nothing you could go off from. Nico was a mystery to you and you wished you could unravel it. 

"So how did it go?" Percy asked. "Any luck?" 

"No," he murmured. "But I may have a new lead soon." 

"What's the lead?" 

Nico chewed his lip. "That's not important right now. You know why I'm here." You saw Percy’s face fall. You knew Nico wanted you to help convince Percy, but you had barely exchanged a word with the son of Poseidon before. What were you supposed to do? Tell him you would safe him from being stabbed? 

"Nico, I don't know," Percy said. "It seems pretty extreme." 

"You've got Typhon coming in, what . . . a week? Most of the other Titans are unleashed now and on Kronos's side. Maybe it's time to think extreme." Nico looked towards you as to urge you to help him. You stepped forward. 

“If I may, Percy, “ you looked the son of Poseidon in the eye, surprised by the distrust in them, “I’ve been at camp since April – if Nico hadn’t brought me here I would have been dead and I know that even with how hard I – we – camp has been working,” you heard sounds of fighting in the distance, “I fear we are hardly a match for the Titan army.” Nico nodded in agreement. 

“This comes down to you and Luke. And there's only one way you can beat Luke We can give you the same power," Nico urged. "You heard the Great Prophecy. Unless you want to have your soul reaped by a cursed blade . . ." You hadn’t heard the prophecy fully yourself – around camp it was deemed a kind off taboo to mention or talk about.

“You can't prevent a prophecy," Percy said. 

"But you can fight it." Nico had a strange, hungry light m his eyes. "You can become invincible." 

"Maybe we should wait. Try to fight without—" 

"No!" Nico snarled. "It has to be now!" You were startled at his outburst – but you did agree with him. 

"Urn, you sure you're okay?" Percy asked and you threw him a wary look. 

“Percy, look,” you started as you noticed Nico taking a deep breath, “It will be significantly harder, maybe even impossible to take this journey when the fighting starts. Maybe even too late- if you want to prevent any more losses, deaths on our side you must go now.”

“I'm sorry if I'm being too pushy,” Nico’s gaze was strict towards Percy, “but two years ago my sister gave her life to protect you. I want you to honour that. Do whatever it takes to stay alive and defeat Kronos”

"All right," Percy decided. "What do we do first?"

[witchofthesouls]

(How the Camien nurse got more attention if the D.J.D. had to be around the regular forces of the faction:)

Vos had no idea what would happen at this particular docking. All optics were glued to Peaceful Tyranny, hungrily tracking everyone's comings and goings as mechs try to get a good look at the D.J.D.’s medical acquisitions and the recent additions of newsparks…

But the gunformer hadn't expected to be pelted from the ceiling of gun range showers.

Tarn's vindictive dovetail stares from above, stripped down to a courtesan's suit, optics sharp and pale, and Energon slowly drips out of the opened vent to trickle down to the floor.

“Can you get me down? And hail Nickel?” A frown pulls your features, distaste and annoyance as you click your glossa. “I've been set up and need to finish a job.”

Two private comms, one vexed Prion, and one helpful and giant Tesarus equals a naked Camien that's indifferent to the crushed, dangling left arm and leaking wells.

Vos shares a long, meaningful look with Tesarus. The X-shaped optic sizzles in a slow blink of agreement, blades creaking in his gnashing pit.

Tarn won't be happy.

Vos recognizes the technique: it's meant to cause as much pain across your neuralnet without destroying the most important connective points, relays, and sensory equipment in your servos.

A common tactic to force compliance in those with specialized sensors, like medics and engineers.

Nickel welds your arm back into proper placement, clipping and soldering the snapped lines, prodding the torn, frayed musculature to knit back together, and picking out the debris and fragments.

You barely grimace, breathing slow and deep as you test your left arm's flexibility, hand clenching.

Your plating for that arm is a lost cause, but at least the rest of your body is covered again.

Nickel and you fall under a grey area. Not pledged to the Cause but under D.J.D.’s direct protection.

No one should have been able to demand your presence at the base's medbay, even as one of the few skilled medical professionals on board, neither you or Nickel have the proper creditionals to log into the Medical Department of the faction.

The destroyed access panel to the medbay unit that trapped you is sparkling's play to Tesarus’ raw strength to brute force it open.

And there lies a delightful sight of Overlord sprawled in the medberth, unconscious and completely unaware of the world.

Before Vos was initiated into the Justice Division, he was the personal weapon to a field engineer. The mech had long been dead, but Vos remembers many tricks from those clever servos.

And his credentials as the terminal accepts Troubleshoot's login.

You bark out a laugh as the medberth comes to life and proceeds to maneuver the Phase Sixer.

Vos spots something shiny in Overlord's mouth, and you smack his hand away to use the forceps.

A dart. A tiny sliver of a dart. Bright pink against the dark mouth, secreting a thin fluid.

“Trade secret,” you say with that strange half-smile, taunting them with unreadable optics, and Vos wonders if he can get Kaon to plot a venture to Caminus if it produced creatures like you.

The medberth finally manages to pry open the downed mech's ports, screens pop up as information is retrieved.

“You know,” you say, very conversational as you read the running scripts of medical glyphs. “The patient here hasn't had any decent diagnostics since the last writer. Someone named Rossum?”

When you relay the date from that writer, Nickel spits out a curse that impresses Tesarus to belt a laugh, the cavern in his chassis hiccups from the force.

“Overlord here hasn't done a proper check up for so long, we should correct it, shouldn't we?”

Oh, Vos can read that savage gleam under that professionalism. It's the same glint you get when you give Vos a live demonstration on the traitor’s corpse - flaying nervecircuits and fuel lines from Deadzone's protoform mass, exposing the endoskeleton in clean, surgical cuts.

(Vos learned a few new tricks, especially after you neatly explained how to pull the lines without breaking them. You keep Deadzone’s frame in a constant cycle of punishment and repairs, showing Vos by flushing out the dead mech and carefully exposing the grey, swollen tubing.

It's very informative.)

Nickel may be the size of an Energon cube, but her returning grin is absolutely feral. “Yes. Yes, we will. And there's quite a few things we should add.”

______

Ever the consummate professionals, Vos and Tesarus get kicked out.

Vos hasn't been this disappointed since he found out Rumble and Frenzy had a type, and it's not him (or Kaon).

He doesn't give into the juvenile feeling to skid his pede on the flooring, nor climb into the vents where you found him to watch the operation.

Instead, he makes himself comfortable in a nearby rolling chair, cleaning and oiling the drills of his mask as Tesarus stands guard by the crumpled door.

Between the grinder's churning sink and Vos’ ghoulish underface, any mech that attempted to step foot here immediately backtracked the way they came.

Time drags and no one hails them, nor does any other medical personnel come to check on the occupied medberth.

The medbay door grinds open, spluttering a rain of sparks. You and Nickel come out with a satisfied air of accomplishment, and Vos can only make out Overlord’s prone frame under a cooling sheet before the door grinds to a full close, and their medbay crew slather the remaining cleanser foam over their arms and hands.

“Done and dusted.” It's one of the strange phrases you have a habit of saying after a procedure or operation. A sense of ritual finality.

Nickel doesn't spit on the floor, but it's a near thing as she sneers, “What's the point of all that downpour if no one is willing to maintain the dam!?”

[i-starcreamed]

Hey, I was thinking of a oneshot request for MTMTE Rodimus, Megatron, Drift, Whirl, Tarn, Shatted Glass Optimus Prime and Bayverse Ironhide with a Cybertronian S/O who can transform into a weapon (and it depends on what weapon she turns to, depending on who the character she is with). I was thinking it could be a female S/O as well, to make it easier for you cause I'm aware that's a lot of characters lol. Thank you, have a good day/afternoon/night 🤗

oo this is a cool request! this was very fun to write especially since one of my ocs also transforms into a weapon..And I had to exclude Megatron and Ironhide since I sadly don't know how to write for them too well :(

Also I'll be uploading the oneshots separately so that the characters are easier to find and for organization purposes :D hope you don't mind. This post includes Rodimus and Drift

MTMTE Rodimus x Cybertronian!reader

Whenever danger sets afoot on the Lost Light or any other alien planet the crew makes a stop at, Rodimus is immediately looking at you with begging optics. Every time, you would sigh and know exactly what he meant.

Today was one of those cycles, the Lost Light had to make a stop at some random alien planet. According to Ultra Magnus and your significant other, the planet belonged to a bunch of techno-organics that weren't too welcoming to cybertronians. Or rather, which you learned too late, they weren't welcoming to any intruders.

"Alright, alright listen everyone! We're under attack, this planet is apparently defensive against us, but we'll be fi-" Another explosion ringed in the background. "we'll be fine!" Rodimus announced this to the whole crew, which were itching to fight or hiding within the ship.

"We're all gonna die!"

Someone in the crowd yelled, which led to more of the crew muttering to each other and doing the exact opposite of what Rodimus wanted. His optimistic smile faltered as he sighed. You were at his side, as always. You placed a servo on his shoulder in a comforting way.

"Hey, it's alright. We should go help out there though, system's scanner says they're closing in. How about we go protect the crew, yeah?" You said with a smile.

Rodimus seemed to perk up at this. Suddenly, a knowing grin crept onto his face. 3..2..1.."Does this mean...?" His striking blue optics stared down at you expectedly. There he goes. You sigh but nod your helm.

"Yes Rodimus. I'll turn into my alt mode.."

-----

Rodimus was the only bot you trusted enough to wield you in your alt-mode, which happened to be a rather cool-looking plasma rifle. With temperatures reaching to a scorching amount, you and him easily plundered through your attackers. Techno-organics and heat don't mix well, you learned. By the end of it, the nearby location was a nasty mess. But hey, at least you protected the Lost Light in an incredibly badass way. It's not every cycle they see a femme that can turn into a rifle and melt away at her enemies. Rodimus was proud of you, to say the least. He couldn't have a better/more badass conjunx.

He still holds you as you enter the Lost Light once again, to continue on your journey before the planet's inhabitants call for backup or something.

"Can I transform back now?"

"Hmm, nope. I need to make an announcement first, remember?"

"If you drop me again, I swear to Primus Rodimus..."

He groans, you were never going to forgive for that, were you?

MTMTE Drift x Cybertronian!reader

Early on when you embarked upon the Lost Light, you had quickly befriended the third-in-command. You happened to bond over your love for bladed weapons and swords, combat in general. As you got closer, those feelings for each other grew. You were so trusting of him despite his past, despite everything. And yet...he didn't know what your alt-mode was. You had mentioned to the crew and himself that you took the form of a weapon. When asked what kind, you kinda said it depended and left it at that. It wasn't until today that he just had to know.

"Y/N, sweetspark?" You heard your conjunx ask a your side. Currently, you were both in his hab suite, reading some old cybertronian literature Drift recommended. You lifted your helm from the datapad and let out a short hm?

"I never mean to intrude, but I'd still like to see your alt-mode..." HE asked rather cautiously. To be fair, it's not that you were ashamed or anything of your alt mode. However, the mode you chose truly depended on who er...handled you during combat. You have been with Drift for a while, you decided it wouldn't hurt to trust him enough for this. So you sat up from your spot and placed the datapad down.

"Okay, okay Drift. Here we go.."

Your alt-mode depended on your conjunx, gears and metal turned into place as your t-cog worked out its form. Not a second later you fell into Drift's servos, his optics widened as you finished transforming. He thought you were a sniper rifle or some type of gun, he never imagined you transforming into a beautiful and intricate blade. And there you were, on his servos. He would so much compare you to the Great Sword, powerful and he would give his absolute spark to you.

He'll admit, it's a bit trippy to be with a talking sword but he wouldn't change it for a thing. A soft smile made its way onto his face

"Thank you, Y/N."

[deliriousbug]

Going wayyyy back to the first caption gladiator s/o, can I request that same s/o being forced to resort to their gladiatorial combat and absolutely demolishing the opponent (maybe someone if the DJD?) and megatron being in awe and then finally having it CLICK that his s/o is not just the FIRST champion, but THE champion? The horror of the pits, the scourge of kaon, the lord of gladiators?

The DJD had found them again. Megatron had feared as much. Even with the combined force of every bot aboard the Lost Light, their chances of victory were slim. But there was nothing left to do except fight. Megatron had practically begged his lover to stay behind, to protect the ship and those who could not defend themselves, but they had refused. Vehemently. Although neither of them desired battle or bloodshed, they would force themselves into action, knowing damn well that they were the most powerful duo among the crew. The two fought side by side, managing to down Tesarus.

Megatron’s old war frame buzzed with adrenaline and his engine turned over loudly as he lifted a battered servo to rest it on his lover’s heaving shoulders. They gave him a weary smile and opened their mouth to speak, but a gunshot drowned them out. Megatron lurched from the force of the blast, optics blown wide in pain. He looked down to find a gaping hole through his waist. As he collapsed, he caught sight of Tarn stalking towards them, blaster smoking. 

Megatron’s lover let out a strangled, anguished cry and charged at Tarn. They attacked with a frenzied fury, and Megatron had never seen them move so fast and light. As Ratchet rushed over to tend to him, he watched in both awe and concern as his lover let loose. They fought like legends of old were said to have fought; wild yet precise, quick yet powerful. Megatron thought he knew his lover. They were one of the first champion gladiators of the Pits. But the more he watched them, the clearer it became that even Tarn was no match for their completely unleashed skill and power, and the more Megatron came to realize that his lover wasn’t just one of the first champions. They were THE Champion Gladiator. The one legends were written about. The horror of the Pits. The scourge of Kaon. The lord of the gladiators. And that knowledge made his spark ache for them even more. 

In what felt like mere moments, Megatron’s lover was standing over Tarn’s warm, twitching corpse, his spark in their servo. They’re covered in his energon, and the look in their optics was absolutely feral. They crushed Tarn’s spark and dropped it atop his cooling frame. 

Megatron called out to them, and when they spotted him and ran over, they shoved Ratchet aside despite the old medic’s protests. Their frame clicked and whirred loudly and their bloodied servos trembled when they touched Megatron’s undamaged side. 

He saw the darkness and the panic battling in their expression and lifted a servo to gently cup their face. They turned wild optics on him and it broke his spark to see this version of them —this version that they constantly told him they were terrified of— like a thick film covering their usually kind and warm optics. 

“Come back to me, my love,” Megatron rumbled, voice rougher than usual from pain. 

They shuttered their optics and leaned into his touch as they struggled to smother their old gladiator mindset. When they opened them again, there were tears beading on the rims. 

Megatron pulled them against his chassis even though it hurt. “You did good, love,” he murmured. “But the fight’s over and I need you to focus back on us, on the present.” He kissed the crest of their helm adoringly. “You’re safe now,” he added. He didn’t mean from the current fight, nor from the tumultuous universe that surrounds them day and night. He meant only that they were safe from the Pits, safe from starvation and bloodsport. Safe from the past, but never the future.

[miss0atae]

The Sign ep 9 had so much more action than I expected. I thought we would just see a very devastated Tarn.

I'm not saying we didn't saw him being deeply affected by what happened to Phaya. He was very much thinking about him and he also felt guilty. It's a recurring conversation he had with several other characters where he believes people he loves will eventually die.

This episode was also about his parents' murder, how to catch the killer and the investigation the team have on Kao's case. The series never relies on one aspect only. It's always the fantasy, romance and action mixed together in every episode. I think that's why I find it so much compelling.

Well, we got enough time to be annoyed by Dr. I-can't-accept-it-will-never-meant-to-be (aka Dr. Chalothon). He really is trying everything to separate Tharn and Phaya. After some decades, century, I would have stopped trying because at the end of all his actions, the lovers always find each other and try to be together. He is so selfish and his ego is big, he can't accept the truth. I just want to say that Heng is killing it as a villain. We don't see him a lot but every time I see his evil fixed grin, I'm like "Damn, you're really the bad guy".

I'm glad, Phaya woke up at the end of the episode and he is relatively well. I hope Tharn will not try to distance himself from him, especially now that Phaya seemed to have found his memory back from his previous life.

All the members of the team are such great friends to Tharn. I like the friendship they have.

One thing annoyed me a bit in this episode. I'm not surprised when the villains act badly because you expect them to be this way. Yet, I want to know who Dao think she is?! I was socked when she accused Tharn. It was so uncalled. He was already feeling bad and he blamed himself for what happened. She didn't need to say it this way. I'm glad, Thongthai or Yai (can't remember which one) called her out.

Anyway, why do we have to wait for another week to have the next episode?! This series are teaching me how to be patient and it's not easy.

[lazareneblessing]

bursts in with two extra large iced coffees. you should tell us more about aiden 🤲🫶

OMG HIIII TEHEHE TWIRLS HAIR. so. aiden infodump!!

legal name aiden december, he's a galliard who ended up joining the hart wardens. he's kind of scrawny and doesn't have all that much going for him except for his strangely powerful personality. got that deer in the headlights swag. he has been plagued by strange visions since birth so he was a very peculiar and off-putting child and his parents did NOT wanna put up with his ass. so he fell in with a bad crowd of equally peculiar and off-putting fellas and started dealing to be financially independent and get the fuck away from home but oops he started Abusing Substances. all that earned him a stay at juvie after which clay first contacted him. at that point he has been homeless/no contact with his parents for like 2 years and clay taunted him into confronting them during which his first change happened and his parents ended up splattered all over the house. RIP! very sad. either way he joined the beaver pack and all he got from that was going clean so like, good for him? but scraper and clay were awful and nasty to him as they are, and he kind of just took it because he believed he owed them. tapping into his spiritual side with black tarn was a big big big step for him, it meant so much to learn that he's not literally insane and that all of this is Real. he may not be a theurge but he has a very strong intuition and could tap into the umbra even before learning the proper rites tehehe.

so that's for pre-book backstory ig? personality-wise as i mentioned he is very much spiritual, he respects the spirits and believes in garou's mission of balancing the two realities they exist in. despite that he has a lot of faith in humanity and does remarkably well in social settings - he works at byzance as a barista :3 and just in general he is pretty extroverted. and he cares about everyone so so much... he is such a pack hypeman like he has a way with words and enough conviction behind them to get the gang GOING !! he is however rather timid and lowkey most of the time. he's hella patient and not quick to anger at all - he represses his rage a lot because he's a control freak and doesn't want a repeat of what happened during his first change. he's super perceptive and has a keen eye for details, especially stuff that other people might overlook, which makes him a great investigator - but also pisses off stormcat because he keeps asking her questions about the damnest things LMAOOOO. when he can't rely on his personality, he generally uses his wits to get out of bad situations. because his physical stats are shit. all he has going on there is his decent knife-throwing.

when it comes to relationships :333 he's close to his whole pack tbh but there's a lot of different dynamics happening so let me get into it a bit.

so starting off strong with elton he's the love of his life <3 aiden was SO suspicious of how much kindness elton was showing him at first, thinking that since he's a shadow lord he has some ulterior motives, but very quickly he realised that elton is just a big big nerdy softie LOL. they became quick friends during the month long lockdown daphne put them under, between investigating together, getting burritos and just hanging out reading and exchanging notes on each other's books at elton's flat. they have a very similiar dry humor and a shared interest in spirituality and occult, both garou and human, AND generally they employ similiar methods in dealing with various problems so that also created a lot of mutual understanding between them. aiden is way more considerate of humanity though, so they do balance each other in that regard. like idk aiden looks up to him so much and thinks he's so cool but also sweet <3 and he brought so much life into elton's life. and then they started kissing with tongue and calling each other mate romantically. like bros do. idk theres so much about them....

nin and aiden the breadwinners of the pack... i don't have as many elaborate thoughts here because aiden just loves nin so much they were also very quick friends, like they're fully understanding of each other's quirks and hang out a lot. probably play video games together because aiden is canonically a gamer. they hang out and maintain the woods a lot together it's a fun time :3

melodie genuinely intimidated aiden at first quite a lot despite the fact that he was the one to rescue her from a pumpkin cult, like she just has that aura about her. they quickly bonded because aiden was super inquisitive about the three families, harmonie and all the stuff the broad brook caern was up to. melodie thinks his cooking is terrible but she will still turn up unannounced at his cabin to steal it

podge and aiden are literally girl so confusing coded. there's a lot there. i think a lot of it comes from how podge is just very proactive in everything he does and like jumps into insane shenenigans no thoughts just full on ballistic and aiden is like uhm maybe we should actually consider our options here maybe we should try the stealthy route maybe we should consult the spirits first... like on a principle he agrees with podge on a LOT of things like hell yeah lets kill this fucking ceo however maybe lets not just bomb the whole building because there will be way too much collateral damage and also we do not need cops on our ass we gotta be SMART about it. podge disagrees. they really should work it out on a remix. because they do vibe they're like both more silly than serious :3 and they also care about humanity :3 and theyre roommates… ohmy god they were roommates. but they dont smooch bcuz aiden is down horrendously

uhhh gosh that's about it? if you have any more specific questions abt him :3 pls do ask he's my pookie ultimate recently

[puppet-strung-moon]

My Transformers OCs inspired by Killcode and The Bloodtwins

First up is the OC inspired by Killcode: Eviscerate Eviscerate was a fighter in the Gladiatorial Pits in Kaon and Tarn, he’d been there longer than Megatron and had the Scars to prove it, he never held the title of Champion but he was well known for his sickening brutality to opponents, finding new and fresh ways to annihilate the competition. Many of the other fighters feared her greatly, even the most hardened ones who had been in the “business” longer than Eviscerate were deathly terrified of what she was capable. She even struck fear into the sparks of the most cocksure Elite Guardsmen of the Senate. He was a monster who no one ever wanted to get on the bad side.

But there were two individuals that had no free of him, no. They admired him, applauded his grisly actions in the arena. The visceral carnage of some of Eviscerate’s fights had always drawn these two little troublemakers to Eviscerate. Now many had thought that Eviscerate would be annoyed and kill them without hesitation but instead he grew fond of the twins and adopted them as her own, even teaching them how kill when she deemed them ready. Overtime they became just as ruthless as her, which helped when the war broke out because this dysfunctional family of three were menaces to society.

Though unfortunately their family would be broken up after Eviscerate received a horrible injury on the far side of a battlefield they were all on, unable to her sons anything or her location. Though later on Eviscerate is found by autobots, who fix them up as best they can and help her back on her feet, though she does need a cane for assistance at times. His time with Autobots and their willingness to help him despite all he’s done gave him pause to reflect. He was dropped off on a neutral spot, to continue his reflection and lease on a new life. Eviscerate is happy now just living a simple life on a neutral planet but even so she been trying to make contact with her sons to tell them she’s alive.

Which now leads me into talking about the Twins based off of Bloodmoon: Butcher & Scythe

The twins were orphaned at a young age and left to fend for themselves on the streets of the lower cities of CyberTron. Doing whatever it took to stay alive. If that meant stealing, they would steal. If it meant killing somebody, they would. At some point they found a way to siphon energon out of the corpses of those they killed. One day while siphoning a victim, they see the gladiatorial matches playing on a far off screen and they see Eviscerate, brutally killing an Insecticon with her bare hands with the most sadistic grin on his face. The twins were now curious of the gladiator, the fighter. How this stranger to them, sparked such a curiosity in them. They wanted to do that, the power to rip apart someone using brute strength alone has them ecstatic.

It took them a great while but they managed to find where Eviscerate would next be fighting and snuck into the arena during one of his training, nearly getting cleaved in half by a sword. They pestered him with questions, which he answered until the twins left. They continued to do this many times, even stay longer to watch the fights, wasn’t long until they were adopted by Eviscerate and she taught all his ways of taking out someone, whether it was weapons or with their fists, Eviscerate taught them all of it. Overtime one was more likely to use their fists than weapons and visa versa, the duo along with Eviscerate as their parental figure were unstoppable beings of chaos, especially when the war started they were even more troublesome.

They picked fights with other Decepticons and Eviscerate had to be called in to stop her boys from causing a ruckus. Though when she was presumed dead after that faithful day, twins listened to no one and trusted no one, they were most focused on avenging Eviscerate, she was only parental figure they had and loved as well listened to. Eviscerate was gone so no one could keep them in check.

And there you have it, Killcode and Bloodtwins based Transformers OCs, if you have any questions about them please feel free to ask me

This is Eviscerate. Tall, Lanky, and Tired Bigender Mother

Butcher is Red and Scythe is Blue. Scythe is actually the “calmer” of the two. Both are nonbinary

[ @escapetheslaughter @multifandomcutie13 ]

[transingthoseformers]

Sometimes, I crave a very specific version of Rodiclash in which Thunderclash is absolutely obsessed with Rodimus, like borderline Yandere in old school animes, but is self-aware enough to know he should not be doing the creepy stuff he desperately wants like locking Rodimus up in a room away from everyone who "doesn't appreciate him" and worshipping him.

He actually has similar vibes to Tarn but is better at hiding it.

Rodimus's feelings about him aren't entirely jealousy/feeling threatened, but picking up on the mask of non-threatening Thunderclash was carefully keeping up. Their first meeting, Hot Rod called him out on forcing a smile, and Thunderclash at first didn't like him and actually hated him a bit for both his attitude, seeing through him, and all the Emptions. Slowly, though, he grew to appreciate the fact Hot Rod/Rodimus fully picked up on his real feelings and began to admire him, though Rodimus didn't pick up on the sincere change of feeling.

His agreement with the mutiny was meant to only have Megatron left and that's why he was furious with Getaway.

In Bad Ending, he manages to convince Rodimus to go off with him and it is fulfilling or bordwring on his fondest dreams and Rodimus picks up on this and realizes "holy shit Thunders wants me" and teases him about it starting up a not-quite toxic relationship that involves a lot of Rodimus having to set firm boundaries but also being way too willing, Thunderclash's, who is trying to keep some self restraint, opinion.

Drift hears about this and gets distressed because Ratchet is fully aware of both Thunderclash's crush and obsessive nature, and he is fully prepared to give him a threat.

Rodimus breaks them up and says "yeah he knows" about some of Thunderclash's more "innocuous" obsessive habits, like reading all his mail or preparing all of his food or "the watching him recharge thing", which makes Drift beep in distress.

He is very much going: "NO, RODIMUS THAT IS NOT SAFE SANE OR NORMAL!".

And Rodimus shrugs and says he is fully aware of what is going on and is okay with it before pausing looking at the camera and telling Thunderclash to "turn them off now because this is a private-private" conversation and Thunderclash reluctantly does because he Trusts Rodimus won't actually leave him if Drift shares the slightest interest while Drift is horrified.

Rodimus is actually improving, and Thunderclash is being more openly vicious when it comes to him. Especially in his defense. He may have had a lot of jeaslousy about Drift, Megatron, and Minimus. Drift makes a lot of distressed beeps and glares anytime Thunderclash is nearby.

In the Good Ending, Drift is deliberately blocking Thunderclash's courting attempts, with obvious faked innocence, until Thunderclash sabotages a mission to get Rodimus and him stuck together a while butbthen gets tongue tied until Rodimus starts talking to him of his own choice asking about "his weird thing with Drift". Rodimus is strangely delighted that Drift is the only person he shows outward disdain for and thinks its funny. He also states, not asks, that Thunderclash really does like him now. This flusters Thunderclash and Rodimus looks amused and invotes him to watch a movie together.

They still end up together but with Ratchet there to help them get a more steady relationship and without some of the rougher start they had in BE.

Drift is suffering.

OWO?

Yandere!Thunderclash??

Interesting situation comparing it to Tarn

ohhhoh so Roddie knows something. He doesn't know what this something is, but it's something

I can just imagine the blowout when Thunders realizes Getaway used him and this isn't what he wanted

Ooo on it finally clicking for Rodders? Of course Rodimus would consider this a win

roddie bae your amica and Amica in law are concerned about you

Interesting that Ratchet knows well of Thunderclash's tendency to be obsessive, has he seen others™️?

Rodimus that is not innocuous

Also YES ON MECHA BEEPING OUT OF EMOTION

oh rodimus

Thunderclash no—

So for the good ending Drift noticed i-fucking-mmediately

Makes sense he wouldn't like Drift and Roddie finds this somewhat hilarious

In general just poor Drift wow

[agentsquirrelsgotrobots]

Earthspark x DJD

This is 100% crack, fueled by a commenter that insinuated that Tarn is too good for crack fics. I hope this haunts your dreams. This is definitely a dark comedy.

Enjoy, and have the day you deserve, dear passive aggressive commenter.

Twitch didn't know what was behind her, but turning back would seal her fate.

All she could hear was the snapping of branches as whoever was behind her rushed to grab her. She tripped, and shrieked as a huge hand grabbed her arm, easily fitting the whole thing in one hand.

Twitch thrashed as she was pulled into - a hug?

"Sweet spark, where's your sire?" Her captor's voice smothered her in an all-consuming warmth, Twitch fighting to keep her eyes open as a foreign drowsiness pulled at her spark. "Megatron didn't tell me he had newsparks." Twitch felt herself being shifted in the foreign bot's grasp, a hand forcing her head to rest against their chest plate as she was picked up. Their spark beat filled her ears, and she struggled to stay awake. "I am just so, so sorry for startling you. I just had to see Megatron's heirs for myself. The organic playthings are an odd choice, but a child has to have their toys, after all. You even have your alt mode, too, unfortunately with your carrier's colors."

Tarn looked down at the little minicon curled up in his arms, finally fast asleep. She was just so tiny. Unfortunately, the end of the war meant that Megatron had to pretend to share power with the Prime.

Honestly, anyone could see right through the facade. Megatron was the one calling the shots. He had to be!

Tarn could even rationalize why this dirt ball wasn't brought to their knees yet. Obviously, his master's pet Prime wished to keep his pets alive, and his Lord allowed it.

After all, five sparklings one after another would be quite taxing. It made sense for his Master's pet to earn a reward.

It was also an out of the way spot to raise a brood. And what a beautiful one it was. Two beastformers, a minicon, a racer, and a grounder. All seemly healthy, and taking after their Sire quite nicely.

:Nickel, apparently our Lord has been quite busy.:

Tarn heard Nickel sigh. :Tarn, what are you blabbering about?:

: Well, considering I am holding Megatron's runaway firstborn…:

:WHAT! Details, now.:

:She's a tiny femme, with a red and yellow drone alt mode. If it wasn't for her rotors, she could fit comfortably in the crook of my arm. She's sleeping at the moment. Yes, I did Megatron a favor and made her a little drowsy for the walk back to the nursery. She should be very cuddly for the next couple of hours. I will get photos for the altar, no worries.:

Tarn shifted Twitch carefully in his arms and pulled out his camera, taking a quick photo of her napping in his arms. Well, off to put her down for a nap. The fleshy built farm was an odd choice for a nursery, but Tarn had to admit the theme was cute, and far from any organic settlements to keep their current pets from catching diseases. Now, which structure was the nursery?

Tarn's first guess ended up to be live food storage for the pets, but he should have known from the little fluffy meat animal penned up in the yard that nosed the sparkling's feet before brushing against Tarn's ankles before getting out of his way. He found the actual nursery building by spying a purple bit of kibble peeking out from a mound of yellow organic bedding through a loft window.

He shifted the minicon in his arms again, her rotors making her quite awkward to hold comfortably. He opened the nursery door to find one of her siblings hiding under a bed, the massive dinobot flailing around as the edge of the raised bed got caught on his horns. Tarn set the sparkling on an unused bed, careful to set her on her belly so her rotors can move freely.

Her sibling was still struggling with the bed and froze as Tarn crouched down in front of him.

"Well hello there. What's your name?" Tarn used just a little bit of the Voice as he lifted the bed off the big orange sparkling, the bot scrambling away from him and standing protect fully in front of her.

"Ja-Jawbreaker. I-Is T-Twitch ok?"

"Ah, Jawbreaker! Hmm, I didn't know you scanned an alt mode yet. Yes, your sister is fine. She's just taking a nap, I found her sleeping in the woods. I am Tarn, Megatron is my boss. Do you know where he is? I wish to speak to him about my next work assignment. Grown up things, nothing for you to worry about. Would you mind watching her while I look?"

"Yeah, uh, sure. Mom and dad are at work, but Megatron should be back from a mission tonight. Opti- never mind. You just asked about Megatron."

Tarn smiled. "I assume Optimus is working with the humans?"

Jawbreaker nodded, realizing that he gave away too much. He knew Nightshade was with Tarantulas, Thrash had a doctor's appointment with Ratchet and would be home in a couple of days, and Hashtag was hiding in the loft. He just hoped that Megatron got home before anyone else did. Jawbreaker didn't like the way Tarn talked about Megatron, but couldn't quite understand why.

Luckily, he didn't have to think about it much longer, because he heard the familiar racket of Megatron landing in his alt mode. He rushed outside, Tarn blocking the door from the outside before following him.

Megatron, at first thought Jawbreaker, just wanted a hug, spreading his arms out to be tackled by many, many tons of bright orange sparkling. Instead, he had to see his nephew blubbering in terror as TARN of all people ran up to him.

"My Lord! Honor to see you, Master. I have questions about my new role in furthering the cause. The current List has been executed, and the DJD seeks further instruction."

"Tarn? Where's the children?"

"Two out of the five are secured in the nursery, my Lord. Jawbreaker here was left to watch them alone. The two femmes, for your information. Their sibling and brother have not been located, but I found the minicon femme wandering in the forest. The Peaceful Tyranny is parked just past the tree line."

Megatron sighed. "Tarn, I was only gone to retrieve energon from the nearby mine. The children are more than welcome to play in the surrounding woods. They all are more familiar with the area than I am. Twitch, the minicon femme, is the oldest, and I tend to keep her on a longer leash. Please apologize to my youngest. He and Hashtag, the younger femme, are allowed to stay back at the barn without supervision as long as they stay together. My oldest son, Thrash, and middle child Nightshade are with his doctor and their tutor. And please, use the outside shower before getting out of the cow pen next time. You have feces all over your feet and have undoubtedly tracked it inside. The humans are not to be harmed, and please watch for the animals and human children."

"Spoken like a true Sire. Do you wish to return to the Peaceful Tyranny to discuss the future of my role in the Cause?"

Megatron pinched his nose and sighed. "Tarn, I want the DJD to find a quiet place to disband. Go back to Mezzanine, find an uninhabited moon, or even just float around in the Peaceful Tyranny. The List is done. I am done. I'm an old man, and I just want to be with my children and live out the rest of my life. Please, don't contact me or my family outside of an emergency again. You have until this time tomorrow to leave Earth."

Tarn stepped back, shocked. "My Lord? Are you sure about this?"

Megatron let out an exasperated sigh and patted Jawbreaker's head. "Yes, Tarn. We got what we wanted. Now, I want to enjoy my peace. Go find yours."

Tarn nodded. "Jawbreaker, I sincerely apologize for scaring you. Megatron, I will take my leave."

"Tarn, Get. Out." Megatron grumbled, putting a comforting hand on Jawbreaker's shoulder.

Jawbreaker ducked behind him, and Tarn finally got the hint, returning to the woods. Megatron called Dot, telling her to keep the kids out of the farm until a certain fanatic leaves earth's atmosphere.

Megatron watched as the Peaceful Tyranny left the planet, not taking his eyes off it until it was truly gone.

"Dot, you can bring the children back. Just be careful. The only thing keeping you, Alex, and your children alive when it comes to Tarn's splinter cell is his fanatical worship of me and the bending of reality to cast me as all powerful. Running won't help, his ability to track people is better than Jazz. Remind the children again to NEVER contradict anything the DJD tells them, and to always insist to be returned to me over giving any information to an unknown Decepticon. If they are taken alive by Tarn, every movement counts."

"Splinter cell? What's that?" Mo's voice was squeaky over Megatron's comm.

"Your phone was on speakerphone, wasn't it?"

"Yep." Robby said. "I assume this Tarm guy was responsible for the panic attack from Twitch that got me out of math class?"

"Yes, Robby. Tarn and his crew were someone I employed during the war. He always took everything I said too far and ended up starting a cult within the Decepticons. Unfortunately, to keep your siblings safe, I had to lie about my relation to both your family and the terrans. They believe the terrans are my children, and for their sake, it is safest to keep up the ruse. Tarn is dangerous and poses a serious threat if he deems you Maltos a burden on the terrans' well-being. Be careful, but I did a good job at standing my ground. They shouldn't come back, but if they do, hit my distress signal, and I will drop everything and put him in his place, anytime, anywhere. Dot, I think it's best if we make sure they can recognize the DJD on sight. But Robby, Mo, if you see them, the objective is to run and hide, especially in places where a bot can't reach. If Twitch could get to you, it's not a good spot. I don't want to scare you, but all Tarn and his crew know is hate, and that is incredibly dangerous. We can continue this conversation at a later date if you would like. I am going to teach your siblings the same. I wish all of you the best. Megatron out."

[speedfreak01]

now that you CLOWNS, you JOKERS have got me thinking about the tarn identity reveal, man that was a really shitty reveal huh

like first off, yet another james roberts villain who has a disability (the physical and social disability of empurata, as well as the pre-existing disability of tarn's transformation addiction, which we as an audience are meant to see as some sort of indicator of tarn's vice and indulgence) and becomes the joker, like there aren't already a hundred of those in the damn book

but it's also a really unsatisfying way to conclude the dying of the light arc because it doesn't have anything to say. i've mentioned this before in other posts, but the reason that so many plot twists and narrative beats from mtmte season 1 work is that they tie back to an over-arching motif of emotional honesty, of saying the things that are uncomfortable to say, answering or addressing that central theme in a way that encourages its audience to think more deeply about them, and facilitate character development along those lines.

but dying of the light? you can clearly, CLEARLY tell that jro was writing this just to get people to say OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO SHOCKING AND UNEXPECTED AND BRUTAL on twitter, so he could termsearch and lap up their reactions, so it's all shock and no substance. the scene where megatron kills tarn with his super special black hole piss beam or whatever implies that the theme we were supposed to be picking up on was "evil people dress their cruelty up in grand narratives to disguise and justify it, but evil is in reality banal", but nothing else in the story serves that theme whatsoever, because the story is at this point uninterested in exploring any sort of theming.

in fact, the supposed thesis of dying of the light is directly invalidated by megatron himself, who has consistently dressed his cruelty up in grand narratives to disguise and justify it without being challenged by the story, and indeed continues to do so throughout the rest of the comic's run, and we as an audience are supposed to just take him at his incredibly constructed and carefully-crafted word!

but also!!! also!!!!!! jro somehow managed to pick like the one character that would make the plot beat of "oh he's just some guy" fall the flattest. because glitch ISN'T just some guy!!!! we know him!!!! even just a little bit!!! but at the same time we don't know him enough for the revelation to have any kind of impact in the other direction

too known to be a nobody, too much of a nobody to be shocking, clearly just intended to be WOAH COMPLETELY OUT THERE AND LEFT-FIELD for the sake of ~subverting expectations~

absolute scenes. a complete omnishambles