#i assume it’s a bot purge or something?

[kinnbig]

HUH i randomly lost like 300-400 followers overnight wtf

[statementlou]

https://www.tumblr.com/louisupdates/754934426217152513/goodbye-faith-in-the-future-world-tour-272024?source=share

did he or did he not lose fans then?

I will answer this because this anon actually brings a concrete question to the table rather than just "hurhur but you're a larrie??" (tell me you can't actually refute any of our points…). Anyway this post shows the decrease in Louis instagram followers between the screenshots taken directly after the release of Faith in the Future in Nov '22, when he changed his bio to promote that album and the tour tickets, and now, when he changed it again to mention the current release. But I'm putting that response under a cut because I'm tired of the actual POINT of all this nonsense getting lost in a sea of made up things people insist are important:

There is no rational argument you can make to say that Louis has less fans now than he did 2, 4, or 6 years ago. You don't need a spreadsheet of details you need to USE YOUR EYES! He has gone from filling theaters to filling arenas and stadiums. His second album made a higher chart position than his first album. His festival has doubled in size EVERY year of its existence. And for that matter: his insta post engagement numbers remain about the same (despite the fact that older posts should have way MORE likes due to having been there longer, even aside from follower counts.) SO WHO FUCKING CARES ABOUT HIS INSTA FOLLOWER NUMBER???? Serious question: what does the word "fans" mean if these things aren't what matters? ALL of this quibbling about what he should do to make things better and people can't even see that THINGS AREN'T BAD.

Anyway to address the specific question- (con't......)

NO- HE DID NOT LOSE FANS. HE LOST SOME INSTA FOLLOWERS. THESE ARE NOT THE SAME THING. As I said above, literally what does it mean to lose fans if that number change coincides with him having higher sales, more audience members, and higher engagement than ever before? Whatever he lost ISN'T FANS. I wouldn't be surprised if a significant factor was something like a bot purge, but also yes: I'm sure a lot of casuals followed him around the time of his big album release and later unfollowed him. That's extremely normal because that's how casual engagement works, and why the definition of fan really matters. Louis and his team understand this and have referenced it repeatedly, talking about how lucky he is to have *us* specifically, to have the kind of dedicated fanbase he has, to have the KIND of fans he does who will allow him to do what HE wants. @dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram named the issue of depth vs breadth with regard to fans a long time ago, and pointed out why having DEPTH is so much more important. It's like this- artists who are on top 40 radio have more numbers on things like insta follows, and for a time on sales and tickets. But those aren't FANS- they're people with a casual interest. And as soon as that person isn't being forced in their ears 10x a day, those people lose interest and stop supporting them, stop buying stuff and unfollow, and those artists end up doing the 'opener on the jingle ball' circuit rather than their own tours. One Direction as a whole, and Louis maybe most of all or near to at this point, have something MUCH MORE VALUABLE than that- DEPTH FANS. Louis has fans who will support him even if he takes years to release music, or stops parading around with a pretend girlfriend to stay in the headlines at least once a month, or completely changes his image and genre, and that is UNHEARD OF. It's ASTONISHING and worth SO MUCH MORE. And they get that! THAT is why he always bragging about us, why industry people he works with are always so agog about us, why he will do anything for US- not for randos. He is also growing his breadth- and it's OBVIOUSLY WORKING whatever his follower counts are, but that is always going to be secondary to doing things for THE FANDOM because that is his sustainable business model. That is what keeps him onstage and reaching number one. And not coincidentally, the things they do are also working to grow that- much more valuable- commodity. So the fact that that's exactly what these chuckleheads complain about- that he does things that are just fandom facing or serving rather than everything being aimed at recruiting casual fans- does nothing but betray how completely they, unlike Louis and his team, misunderstand the actual drivers of his (actual, existing, happening) success. Luckily for Louis, he and his team rely on their own data harvesting (they do a LOT of it) and growth metrics (they're off the charts) rather than the smug assumptions of random (mostly quite new to this) fans and the few bitter people leading the complaining about everything Louis does.

[aemondmybbg]

I just noticed character ai has purged most of the Targaryen bots! :(

I’m devastated I thoroughly enjoyed most of your Aegon bots. I don’t know what I’ll do with all my time now…

helloooi! i have actually gotten so many messages about this issue and i wanted to clear things up a bit! character ai actually deleted almost ALL targaryen bots and that's crazy!

i have them on my account but they are shadowbanned and users can't see them! i initially assumed it was because of targcest or something but i was also told it could be because of HBO copyright. i am honestly so upset about this!

BUT now for the good news. i will try to reupload all my bots without using the targaryen name at all (i was told that this is the way out). it will take a bit of time and i am really sorry! you can write here or messages me which bots you want me to return faster!

and maybe i'm thinking about adding my bots to another platform too so you can get a hotter version and not limit yourself, lol! but first i want to figure out problem with character ai 💌

[pseudophan]

nora i don't know if you keep up with your follower count but me and one other friend just randomly lost 300 followers at once, have you noticed something too?

i've heard others say this as well! i assume it has to be a bot purge, but it's weird bc i didn't lose any personally? well no i did but it was like 25 and it was gradually as i was being annoying <3 i do try to block bots if i see them follow me though but idk, weird

[cozzzynook]

in the middle of dratchrod planning their conjunxing ceremony, roddy gets knocked up.

Rodimus would notice somethings off when he’s trying the fuel they picked for their ceremony. Everything tastes fine to Ratchet and Drift but to him its absolutely disgusting from smell alone and he all together avoids tasting anything telling them he was more excited about picking crystal flowers than the food.

That was entirely odd to the two but they let it be.

Convincing Rodimus to conjunx at all was hard because he felt and knew they deserved much better than him. He’s put them through far too much for either to actually want him or not have resentment towards him so he was adamant their relationship be left as just bots who liked to frag.

Rodimus didn’t even see himself as worthy to be called friends with Drift anymore let alone Amica.

And his relationship with Ratchet?

If the medic punched him every time he saw him he would be justified.

Of course those opinions were rejected by the medic and swords mech. Rodimus wouldn’t budge at all being adamant they call him when they wanted a fun or quick frag. Rodimus made sure he didn’t stay a klik after getting the two off and it was after the fifth time that Drift and Ratchet literally held Rodimus down with their frames and did a claiming bite.

Ever since Rodimus hasn’t been allowed to leave either of their sides and hasn’t been to his old home in years.

He didn’t see any of this coming but apparently everyone else did.

“Spill it, whats wrong kid?”

“Roddy you aren’t getting out of conjunxing us. I’m not above tying you up.”

“There’s a lot in that statement I know you know is messed up.”

Drift didn’t look away from him and Ratchet leaned his frame over to block Rodimus from moving away from the table of crystal flowers.

His favorite crystal flowers that he’s planted around their home among various others that he’s purposely pushing away and avoiding.

“Nothing’s wrong, I just wanna look at something different,” he shrugs.

He thinks he has an idea of whats going on but he’s too nervous to even think about it let alone say it aloud. Smells are getting to him, he can’t stand the scent of most foods and the array Drift and Ratchet picked out make him want to purge. He’s secretly purged more than a few times while cooking for them. Rodimus decided denial was his new best friend seeing as he’s began to enjoy sneaking Drift and Ratchets energon fuel.

He realized pretty early on he shouldn’t be able to handle such heavy consumption but he shook his helm and decided to just enjoy the fuel that didn’t send him to the wash racks.

He’s thankful they didn’t notice and he’s very thankful they assume he’s back on his habit of being lazy by sleeping in. Never-mind it wasn’t normal for him to sleep so early but they assume its conjunx jitters since he’s so sure they’ll come to their senses and either call the whole thing off or just have another ceremony for themselves.

Every time he brings up that this should be a ceremony renewal for the two of them alone they glare at him until he clams up and looks away putting his servos in his lap.

When he talks like that he’s always “punished” in the berth.

Thats exactly how he ended up in this situation now.

Or, well…the situation he still refuses to admit aloud as he now cannot be around most fuel, his own crystal plants around their home and for their ceremony along with recharging late every cycle.

They’re keeping a closer optic on him now that he sleeps through them gently trying to shake him awake.

Thankfully they believe it’s still conjunx jitters and his insecurities and fears that never went away.

Not even with their proposal after an intense round of interfacing and spark merging that happened a few months ago.

It’s safe to assume that night is what caused his current circumstances.

He was in such a mess of tears, fluids, transfluids and spark energies that heavily hung in the room as the core to their sparks floated between their connected frame he didn’t stop to think about his spark baffle snapping at the intense onslaught their emotions, transfluid and bare spark caused.

He definitely should’ve done more than remove the broken baffle from his valve port when he could walk again.

If he’s correct and he’s pretty sure he is sadly, he’s a few months along which is still extremely early by their species standards.

They live a long time so of course they carry for a long time.

A few months is nothing compared to the multiple years he’ll be stuck carrying…ya know, if he actually is carrying that is.

He’s trying to hide a heavy vent as he subtly sits down a few feet away from the ceremonial crystals and paints Drift and Ratchet are picking out. The smell alone is making his tanks hurt with every rough roll it can manage to suffer. He’s not as subtle as he’d like to be when covering half his face plates with his servo to block out the smell. Drift and Ratchet, in true carrying fashion still smell good to him.

In fact Rodimus takes every chance he gets to bury his olfactory sensors into their cables and their sides of the berth when it’s not suspicious. He’s always tried to hide how clingy he is so when he does finally act on it the two hold him close and keep him from retreating. He’s almost sure they’re just as touch craving as he is but its become almost unbearable now that his frame has betrayed him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hm? Oh, the paint smells strong is all,” he can’t bring himself to force a smile like their old crew would expect of him but he can’t bring himself to stop covering his olfactory sensor. When the two get close enough and touch him, he audibly gags and puts a servo to his tanks that rat him out and Ratchet is shifting the two back so he doesn’t purge in the store.

Ceremonial paints and fabrics come to a quick end, he apologizes for ruining their moment and that earns him an exasperated set of glares and light slew of curses from Ratchet who wants to scan him when they get back to the house.

“No.”

“What do you mean “no?” Kid this is non-negotiable you are getting scanned now hold still.”

“Fraggin-,” he used his outlier to heat up his frame to keep the medic from getting a clear reading that he immediately regretted. The tiny morsel of energy he managed to scrounge was depleted immediately and he was ready to drop as his optics dilated, something their species did not do, and he felt out of frame as his chassis and tanks hollowed tight.

Sheer stubbornness is how he managed to stumble towards the berthroom and slip the lock on it.

He tumbled and landed in their berth that honestly looked more like a nesting spot than recharging slab.

He messed up big time. He knows.

Their pounding on the door, yells of his name and worried fear and concerned anger permeated the space of their house and he really hated himself for causing all this.

“I’m sorry,” its said when the two are about to pound on the door again. He caught their fists mid air when he cleared his spark of the long coming apology.

All was silent for an endless amount of kliks that felt like years.

Truly nano seconds passed with Rodimus laying in berth ready to fall into recharge when Drift ripped the door off.

He was too tired to react properly to the overwhelming emotions that circled and he hoped things would be calm when he woke to tell them what he could not hold out on.

“I’ll tell you when I wake up? Please?”

Slurred words were not a good sign but his desperate need of rest was the obvious culprit.

He doesn’t know how or why luck was on his side but Ratchet didn’t scan him and Drift hadn’t gone into his processor to look up his manual frame codings or logs.

“Talk.”

Both were on either side of him, tangling in each other to keep his exhausted frame trapped and he knew he truly had no choice but to tell the truth.

“We are your conjunxs Roddy, I don’t care if we haven’t done the ceremony yet we’ve merged the core of our sparks already that is the ceremony, you can’t just keep us in the dark.”

“drifts right kid, either tell us whats going on or we resort to other methods of finding out.”

And yeah, that sounded very threatening but Rodimus knew they weren’t going to hurt him. His frame didn’t even take the statement with so much as a nano tense. He just felt his nerves fraying at having to reveal whats actually going on.

“If I say its not bad will that be enough?”

White calloused servos grip him briefly and he knows its Drift judging by the callous shape and texture from his swords. Another set of calloused servos feels along his sides and he knows it Ratchet from wear and tear during medical procedures and long term use kick back from firing a blaster.

Closing his optics, he shifted his arms. Should Ratchet keep feeling around his frame he’ll know.

But the mech doesn’t keep going. In fact they both still, waiting for his explanation.

And he wants to tell them.

Not really, but he still wants them to know.

They deserve to know more like it.

They deserve to know why he’s been acting so strangely. Why his typical fuel goes untouched. Why his garden is beginning to wither because he just can’t stand the smell. Why he barely leaves the berth when he doesn’t have to. Recharge is just not enough with how tired he feels.

But that could be the sorrow of being spar—

The half inner admittance squeezes at his chassis pulling him forward to reality.

He really can’t..he really can’t do this.

He can’t conjunx them and do…this.

He can’t be. He just can’t do that to another life when he wishes he could wipe their processors clean of him and save them the trouble. But a terribly selfish part of him wants to be enveloped whole by their care and affection.

He wants to feel their servos knitting along his frame as he does now and he wants their em fields bounding and overwhelming with life inside him.

And he has that.

Quite Literally, has that inside of him right now.

And as much as that makes him tear up and begin to cry, this state of him strikes worry and mild panic that both mechs try to soothe both within themselves and him as he fails to cover his own face plates.

They won’t allow him to close himself any longer nor try and hide any further than what he’s already managed.

Firm yet gentle servos keep a hold of his wrists and around his hip plating to pull him up.

As normal a movement lifting is, its become too quick for his sensitive tanks that lurch and make him choke on a sob. He’s tilting his helm away from the two in case he purges and that sets Drift off into a fearing tizzy as he stops mid lift and scans him with his optics to see just what happened and how he could’ve made Roddy sick.

He’s thankful Ratchet was the one holding his wrists instead of Drift because if he had been, he was sure their medic would’ve felt the plush beginning to form around his tanks.

And mech if that wasn’t a reason to cry all over again.

Showing this early when their species take years to develop sparklings?

He knows exactly what that means and how unlucky he is to have more than one for his first carrying.

Maybe if he’s lucky he’s just getting frame gain easy and early.

The bitty could always be big as well. Ratchet was a solid mech through and through and Drift was no average sized mecha in his old frame as Deadlock either.

“I’m fine,” he eventually gets out.

He’s thankful Ratchet didn’t immediately begin scanning him or the cyber kitty would’ve been out the bag.

With a soft tug Ratchet lets a wrist go free and Rodimus figures nows a better time than any before he actually does purge. That and he’s probably close to passing out, his recharge was cut short for their fabric picking after all.

So with a servo trembling on his tanks, optics fuzzy with tears and shaking limbs, he vents with staggering effort as he opens his spark and em field for the first time in a long while.

Spilling the fuel while he still had dizzy courage.

“I’m carrying..that’s whats wrong with me..”

And..that was not what the two were expecting to hear.

They both have their own way to check over their bonded speedster who they carefully laid down in the nest of pillows he created for their berth.

A sign they honestly should’ve picked up on if they were honest with themselves.

Drift goes helm first into Rodimus’s aura and open field. He can feel the tiny life forms within Rodimus as clear as he’s watching Ratty scan and manually insert a wrist port reader into Rodimus who tries to stay awake. The surprise gasp that Ratty lets out shouldn’t spur his own but it does.

Roddy was sparked.

He was actually sparked.

Sparked.

Sparked.

Sparked…with their bitty?

“Oh primus,” “Holy primus kid,” “you’re sparked?!”

It was so inappropriate to give off a laugh at their astonished shock but he couldn’t help it.

Karma got back at him by making his tanks roll but he did his best to stifle the groan and rub his tanks even with his secret out.

There was berating from Ratchet and a slew of curses for not telling them sooner as he checked Rodimus over manually and with his scanners.

Drift wasn’t any better.

Slipping back into who he used to be, Deadlock made an appearance with glowing yellow optics that seemed to glow for Ratchet to take a better look at his spark and the leftover residue from their sparklings decent into his forge tank and liquid filled gestation pouch.

Drift held Rodimus in a lying position on his lap while they all were occupying the berth.

Ratchet was over him and very meticulous as he worked on his spark and began soothing the bits of inflammation that usually occurred within his chamber from long emerged spark issues.

All was quiet save for the semi-frequent berating he knew were from the spark of both mechs.

He honestly struggled not to fall asleep with how Drift laid his large servo flat against his tanks and rubbed them.

He felt it too nice a gesture when he caused them so much worry and panic. Even hiding his current predicament from them for so long but neither were keen to hear that line of reasoning so he kept those thoughts to himself.

His optics were drooping painfully closed when Ratchet closed his spark chamber and opened his tank plating. It felt so freeing not having the metallico on. It truly put into perspective just how much his frame was changing as there was already a noticeable bump that both Drift and Ratchet couldn’t keep their servos off.

This next port patch was done far slower than necessary but he wasn’t about to tell Ratchet or Drift that.

He let them have this.

Satisfied with their quiet enchantment that gave him a chance to study the longing on Drift’s face plates and building hope that grew on Ratchet’s expressive optics. Their em field were overflowing with adoration that was quickly solidifying into something solid and permanent he himself was still afraid to grasp onto.

Whatever his emotions or expression spoke, it was written in basic across his being.

The two gave him the same looks they often gave when he mentioned they deserved better than him and he hated it.

He didn’t want to ruin this for them. Primus. Why was he always ruining things?

“Stop, kid. Just stop, Rodimus.”

Stupid hormone flux, he didn’t mean to sniffle but it just came out. He wasn’t a crier slaggit. He wasn’t.

“We never imagined we could have something like this..a home..a family. Each other,” Ratchet speaks honestly.

“And now we have sparklings,” Drift’s voice smoothes in, so in awe at life, how could he keep this from him? From either of them?

“You’ve given us something neither of our frames could ever…something we’ve always wanted kid,” and Ratchet was right. His frame was not in any shape to safely carry a sparkling and all the internal damage from doing drugs and old injuries and stunts from disease left Drifts frame barren of sparkling capabilities.

“Something I know you want yourself,” he wasn’t expecting Drift to say that but it makes sense. Drift knew about his insecurities towards sparklings. How he was so good with them yet stayed far away due to his own fears and personal traumas watching them all offline during the fall of his home.

He knew Drift knew.

He just didn’t know Ratchet knew.

“It’s different now kid..Nyon..Nyon won’t happen again..you can hope for more kid. As sparse as its been, I’ve seen ya with the little shell-less menaces and toddling bits. You won’t mess them up anymore than we will,” he wanted to hide himself again. Being laid bare was not something he liked and they knew this.

Keeping his face plates on him, Ratchet leans just a bit closer, “You can enjoy this Rodimus,” frag.., “don’t shut us out anymore. Please?”

“frag..”

He can’t trust himself anymore.

He’s crying again.

He’s crying again and he hates it.

They know.

They always know.

But they hold him. They hold him and it makes crying, feeling their servos run along his tanks and smooth over him, a little more easier.

“I’m sorry,” he promises with staggering low vents, Ratchet keeps his oil and energon levels steady and Drift nuzzling into his face plates feels far too good to him.

“I..you deserve..I won’t..I can’t..”

He doesn’t know how to make the words better or himself but they never asked for that.

So when they hug him close and he feels acceptance dripping off their frames as he always does.

He grants them the best he can give of himself and admitting he’s sparked over and over aloud to himself and that he wants it, is a happiness and relief beyond what he thought possible.

Things change.

Their ceremony is still in the last week of the warm months and its still at the same place as previously planned. The food Drift and Ratchet picked out was served and the crystal flowers Rodimus once liked were on the outskirts, far from his olfactory sensors with a new plant life hanging about in a beautiful array. While the ceremonial fabrics were servo made in an effort together instead of customized at the shops.

The station of fuel the two picked were kept at a distance from where they sat and danced together while a heavy bundle of homemade fuel was servo fed to the glowing speedster. Rodimus refused their rejections of being servo fed in return. As much as they spoiled him he would return it whole sparked.

All their guests noticed the changes immediately and were confused until they saw Rodimus who had both mechs on each side of him rubbing the visible swell on his midsection that couldn’t be hidden even with ceremonial jewels and fabrics.

Suddenly it made a lot of sense and there was a lot of congratulations for more than just their official conjunxing ceremony.

“Don’t feel so bad Roddy, Cyclonus was sparked for our ceremony and so was Whirl. They just weren’t showing yet,” Tailgate assured and comforted him when he had to sit down right after saying their words of promise. Truthfully they made him sit down right after he said his own because it was really hard to stand for longer than a few kliks and he’d already been standing for quite some time helping get the last of everything ready.

Drift and Ratchet were not pleased when they learned he’d been up and moving. But he brushed them off only to regret it of course but its fine.

“That..actually does make me feel better,” he laughed and cuddled with one of Tailgate, Whirl and Cyclonus’s sparkling.

He could feel Drift and Ratchets optics burning as they watched him and he had a feeling he’d be getting his helm smashed through the head board once they got on the honeymoon cruise. Or on the way there, probably on the way there.

“Thankfully the sparklings took after Minimus’s frame so you couldn’t tell I was sparked in the photos,” Megatron assured him with Minimus nodding.

“Eh, I was full on showing and had to sit through my whole ceremony till my fluids broke. At least ya won’t go into emergence like I did on your special day,” Bee smiled comfortingly while Starscream looked far too proud of having knocked Bee up. Windblade elbowed him and tugged his wing before kissing Bee’s horn and rubbing his swollen tank. They were on their second sparkling and Bee looked pretty good, he hoped he looked good when he got Bee’s size…which would be sooner than later it seems.

He sighed, smiling at his friends who reminisced on carrying and told him stories he’d already seen in person.

He gave Cyclonus his bitty when he’d gotten them to recharge and took Megatron and Minimus’s bitty when they got too fussy. He really was good at handling bitties, he could handle others just fine yet it made him hope he could handle his own.

Drift and Ratchet literally curled around him from behind and managed to put all three of them in a touching hug when the toast was given. Somehow they held his swelling tanks and over each others sparks and he managed to hold onto their sparks as well.

Insecurity and fear still swelled within him for the future. Things like that just didn’t go away for him no matter how much time has passed.

But for now in this moment, its too quiet to be detected and for that, he’s grateful.

-

If you can or would like to please tip me

[nattikay]

aight guys, I think I'm finally gonna do it. I'm gonna sit down and purge the bots from my followers list. I've been avoiding it for quite a while just cuz I know it's gonna be a time commitment to sift through them all, but I'm just feeling crazy this weekend I guess.

That said! I don't want to accidentally block real people during this purge, so I am making this post as a warning: I will be assuming that any untitled empty blog with a default avatar is a bot. If you are a real person whose blog fits this description, please do at least one of the following things to avoid a block!

• Change your avatar to anything other than the default • Title your blog • Post some content, even something as simple as reblogging a few memes or making a short little post that says "hey I'm not a bot!"

Even just one of those will be enough!

You have been warned...

[ikkosu]

Hewwooo

Would I be able to make request of IDW Soundwave with an femme!S/O that has an aquatic beast-mode (some kinda like, squid or kraken-type kritter). She has this siren-like ability hypnotise people through her singing it's a conscious ability thought so so she accidentially do it to someone). Maybe Soundwave meets his S/O is he hears her singing.

SOUNDWAVE (IDW). FEM!BOT.SQUID S/O

a/n : apologies for the wait!! I've been juggling through and through with some other requests. 👉👈

|[part two ]|

WHAT veiled the horizon was darkness. Among the ether bristled stars; miniscule upon first viewing yet a closer look, deemed it's significance.

Soundwave trotted towards the ledge of the cliff. It overlooked the rolling sea. The waves that curled and nipped at the crumbling cliff-side broke off into a harsh ripple.

For a moment, he thought he'd saw something.

One quick glance : the gentle loping of the water bulged with a flick. Then, a splash — it's gone, submerged back into the emerald grey. He could pass off the visage as faulty imagination, given the lack of lighting which curved the penumbra thoughtlessly into form.

But he saw it again. In the waters. Gliding below, dancing among the waves. The tail— was it even a tail? Flickered about the surface.

He peered over the ledge.

There. There, it was again. That voice

Like water, it flowed. Round, smooth and alluring. So much so that it eased into his helm. The echo shrouded his mind, danced through the crevices, cords and wires of the circuitry before roosting itself there.

Wherever the voice urges him to, his pedes drag along, sauntering close to the verging mass of blue then, and a tip over the edge, face first into the sea.

The waves crushed him, pulling him down, water for tendrils, inside the mass of blue. Tossed around by the rolling waves, he felt like a toy as he rocked against the tides, a frantic servo out just to grab something. Anything. But all there was, was water.

The distant horizon was an inch peek above the emerald grey when he drew back up. Only to be dragged down again when he wasn't quick enough to grab the protruding branch.

He could've sworn he saw a tail flicker somewhere amongst the tides that curled. A part of him realizes how absurd the situation is, but the other, encompassed by some strange desire, urged himself closer to the sound.

Then, sharp pain blossomed from the back of his helm and his vision darkens. What he registered last was the visage of tendrils latching out and reaching towards him, curling over like a cage.

—

SOUNDWAVE onlines with a jolt.

It was still dark. He's on the shore. On his back. Arms sprawled to the sides. His joints hissed and chuffed, a release of heat and water is purged from the nooks of his body as he sat up.

He groaned a little, sore from the shoulder links, neck cables and to every other protoform under his armor. A bad rust is going to take him soon and he's not sure if Shockwave would be willing to spare him from any chastise.

A ping notified the temporary halt in his cooling fans (he assumed the salt water clogged it) and several other nodules affected by the duration of his scuffle.

He clicked it away.

That can be sorted out later.

The back of his helm pulsed, though, with a migraine one that hammered intensely, prompting a wince.

Then, warmth shrouds one side of his cheek. It was a feather-like touch, almost a brush of air that made him flinch, blasters drawn. A startled squeak was prompted. Before grabbing whatever appendage on sight, he blinked at the figure scuttling back into the water with a splash.

He crawled to the ledge of the shore. A squid's head, two round black optics for eyes, nudged out a little from the water, as though cautious.

"I am unarmed." He says almost apologeticaly.

He sprawls out his servos, wagging it for further convincing.The bot like squid bounced in the water a few times, dipping down and nudging back up before completely plunging into the water.

His temptation to jump in was short-lived, impulsivity almost at a peak's high, when the muffled whirs of transformation pistons halted him.

The surface of the water loped then breaks out with a ripple when you emerged. The tendrils hooked on your back, moved almost with a life like entity of its own, swaying along to your emotions. He's almost reminded of that Organic folklore — Medusa, was it?

"I did not mean to target you." You spoke softly and he tries not to bristle at the familiar allure purging him. "My ability is not something I can suppress often. It's a conscious reverie. Hard to tell. And, mechs often fall prey to it — even when I don't intend to do so."

He leans close but you flinch, reeling away from the shore with a frantic look. Soundwave placates with both servos. He didn't want you to leave yet, not when you're here. Not when you're right in front of him.

He points to his audials.

"I've masked your frequency." He said. "You can speak freely as you like. I won't be affected, if that's your concern."

You blinked, a kind of sparkle eased over your face. "You can do that?"

When it's a given you're eager, Soundwave swings his leg over the shore and submerged it into the water. It gently rippled and lapped at the metal.

"Most can't?"

The tendrils lowered, resigned. "Not the ones I've seen." You vent. "They steer clear of me. And, off they go when they can't — plunging into the sea, rooked in like ants. I'd save them in time before the salt gets to their circuits, just like how I managed to save you."

You give three, very meek, apologetic taps to his open palm. Soundwave blinks at the gesture. He loosens and returns the tap on your own.

"For that, I forgive you." He says. "But I can't help notice you're alone."

"I shelter in an underwater cave." You say, sheepish. "It's not too far from here. A dainty spot, I'd say."

Soundwave seems like he doesn't concur. "Isn't it a little isolating to hide in the sea, when there's land you can come up to?"

You folded your servos on the shore, just beside his thigh and rested your chin on top of it, a little morose.

"I'm frightened of myself as they are frightened of me."

Soundwave observes at you for a moment, then up to the expanse of the sea. He curls out a digit. Slowly it hooks over your own.

"I don't think I'll ever be."

[anon-e-miss]

Umm… when did 700 hundred of you connoisseurs of weird shit turn up?

That’s a big jump since I last looked so I assume I need to do a bot purge.

Since there are a lot of new followers in the last little bit I’m going to just open an invitation to drop a line in my ask box if you have a little plot you’d like to see of something you’d love to see updated.

I’m not promising to answer but asks do sometimes feed the Write Brain.

[tabootubbo]

eryn fascinates me he seems so normal but what are his hidden depths

Eryn is so weirdly boring I'm intrigued by him because I genuinely think there's something else happening with him that he's really good at hiding. Not exactly in a bad way, but sometimes something will happen or someone will allude to something about him and never follow up and it makes me wonder if there's genuinely something more to him and bigger than we realize.

Like I've been stalking his Instagram for the past week because he's been losing thousands of followers despite not being active. I'm assuming he's removing them all himself but Why? What are you hiding strangely normal man? There's barely any pictures of him too despite him supposedly hanging out and working with the Brighton group frequently. I never even see him in the background of party and clubbing posts and he's only ever tagged in work related things. He's not mentioned frequently and when he is it's set related 90% of the time. Plus the whole thing of suddenly dropping streaming and YouTube without notifying his viewers is interesting.

i know what you mean in theory. sometimes people can seem so good that it makes you feel cynical. but i think eryn has his rough edges, when he used to stream he could be quite biting and combative with chatters. he's not someone who tries to be liked which is why i don't think he's some hidden psychopath. are the followers maybe purged bot accounts?

[micamicster]

Last year my follower count inexplicably dropped by like 300 overnight and I assumed it was a bot purge or something and didn’t think anything of it. Today I went to block a bot and it somehow added all 300 of those followers back. Hello.

[monster-slxt]

Just went through my followers for a bot purge and would just like to say to any lurkers who may follow me

I dont care if you lurk and just like things, interact with social media the way you want I'm not gonna police you there, but please for the love of God put some easy to identify as human signs on your blog, change your icon you can literally just use a picture from Google images, put something in your bio LITERALLY ANYTHING! 'Just here to lurk' is a perfectly fine bio you don't need to put more than that but put something! Or you will be blocked by people assuming you're a bot!

[conarcoin]

think tumblr must be purging bots again bc my follower count keeps fluctuating up and down more than usual the past 2 days and i havent rly said anything controversial so. plus this is something i see happen once in a while so i just assume it’s a purge at this point

[alta-et-astra]

So...uh...was there a massive spam blog (you know the ones I mean) purge? I lost like 300 followers all of a sudden and as far as I know I haven't personally done anything to drive people away so I'm assuming they were all (mostly) bots. Anyone experience something similar?

[monstersandmaw]

There might be a delay in the follower milestone story since there’s either a bot purge going on among my followers or I’ve said/done something to piss a bunch of people off, because I’ve ended up with fewer followers than I had before I announced the story/poll, despite having a few new people join the ranks...

If per chance I have offended... lemme know. Otherwise, I’ll assume bots. Anyway, you’ve got some more time to vote, I guess?

[universitypenguin]

What happened to u? U okay?

Hello!

First off, thank you for your concern. I appreciate it and I needed it after the past two days. To answer your question - I'm doing great.

I don’t have a lot of context about your question, but I’m guessing your concern is due to my recent blocking spree. A day ago, I went through my followers list and found some minors. I’ve previously seen smut fanfic writers concerned by underage people interacting with their posts. Until I had to block a few of them, I wasn’t aware how uncomfortable it would make me feel.

Since the blocking spree, I've had a lot of thoughts. I'm about to spew them everywhere. You might regret asking me if I was okay. Sorry about that. No one needs to read this whole manifesto about my rollercoaster of emotions the past few days. But in the interest of transparency, I'm posting this very long note.

What I want my readers to know is the following:

Tumblr is both a place for fanfiction and a social media site.

When I interact with followers and write explicit content, I have to be careful about what I'm saying and who I'm saying it to.

I don't intend to block or purge my followers in the future.

As long as I appropriately tag and put warnings on my work, that is adequate protection for my blog. Everything I write containing explicit content is tagged.

However, I won't interact with users who don't have an age stated in their bio.

There have to be boundaries, given the content of my writing. But I've also come around to the realization that I'm not capable of policing every interaction. Tumblr is a public forum. Minors following me makes me uncomfortable. But by the same token, my work is clearly labeled at 18+ and so is my blog.

There's a lot of explicit content out there for minors if you really think about it. In my high school freshman English class we talked about the book "The Color Purple." Believe me, that was explicit and we were only 14. Any minor with a library card and a Google browser can access a lot more intense content than what I write. I hope they're all being safe, but I can't have a melt down blocking spree again.

I'm not a cop, I'm not a parent, and what minors consume is down to them and the adult responsible for them. If I know someone is a minor I'll block them, should I notice they're trying to interact with me. Otherwise, I'm not purging my followers ever again. It's too much drama. I'd rather leave Tumblr than do that twice. I'm tired and I'm starting to work on my post graduate classes, I work full time in a demanding job, I'm in the process of editing my novel, and trying to keep up with my personal life. Quite literally, I don't have time to block. Writing fanfic is supposed to be my fun time. Let's keep it that way.

Due to the fact that some people I blocked were later unblocked after I took a closer look at their blogs, I'm posting a full explanation below. A quick summary is this:

After only writing for three months, I'd amassed 500 followers. On Monday I blocked almost 200 of them. Then I reviewed my block list and editing down some people who were prematurely blocked. [I assume the anon is one of the unblocked who had me disappear from their dash. Sorry!] This blocking thing isn't sustainable. In the future I'll run my blog differently as far as interaction goes in an effort to be responsible.

Continue reading for the saga of:

The Great Blocking Spree and Existential Crisis of an Erotic Fanfic Writer.

The Blocking Spree:

On Monday I realized a thirteen year old was following me and interacting with my work. This creeped me out.

*Commence blocking spree*

Then I realized how daunting my followers list was. I had 500 followers prior to Monday. That day I blocked about 200 people (some of them prematurely - more on that later.) So after the daunting task of trying to assume, to check bios for ages, to review blog content and determine the user's age, I was tired. Today, I even took a moment to reconsider if I wanted to use Tumblr. Because if all this is my responsibility, maybe I don't have the time or dedication to manage it. When I can be chill, I try to be. This attitude also affected by blocking. It contributed to me unblocking people. When I was doing the blocking spree, I'd give people with no age in their bio a fair shot by reviewing their posts.

I blocked some bot accounts, then a bunch of blank blogs, some ambiguous people who very well could be of age. For the first 100 followers I was pretty aggressive. Then my attention span dropped off and I was a bit more ambivalent. I realized I was doing a crappy job of moderating and wondered what the point was.

The point was that the thirteen year old interacting with my work freaked me out. When I found two sixteen year old followers, it pushed me to continue the purge.

So on I go, blocking. I'm so responsible for doing this, right? But my methodology is crap. What is context for being an adult? Someone had posted about budgeting advice. I thought the budgeting advice was too good for it not to have come from an adult. But my father's a financial advisor and to be honest, I could have given that level of advice at fifteen just from osmosis. Someone had pictures of themselves entering their marijuana plants in the Oregon State Fair. Okay, you've got to be over 18. I didn't block them. Someone else complained about their stats professor and I didn't block them. But in retrospect, one of my high school friends got permission to take college level math courses when we were seniors. She was seventeen when she had a stats professor. The thought circles back - what am I accomplishing here? Next, I went back and unblocked someone who ranted about her Tinder matches being 60 year old men. I wondered if their post was even real. I've lied on the internet before. Nonetheless, I persisted and worked through all 500 followers. When I was done I had 312 followers left.

Post Blocking Spree Existential Crisis:

I know that all the blocking in the world can't stop a teenager who wants to read smut fanfic. I'm not much for posting on social media and I'm not used to a lot of anonymous interaction online. Honestly, I got rid of my SM accounts during college when I felt it was wasting my time. This is the first time I've really use a social media site to post content since college. My twitter account is unused, my Instagram is for close personal friends only, and my TikTok is for mindless consumption of cat videos. (I've trained the algorithm to feed me only cat videos, it's great and I highly recommend it.) I don't post on TikTok, so I don't consider it full use, just lurking.

Okay, Alice, get back to the point....

Right, being anonymous on social media. My blocks are a fence and it's based on self identification from the blogs that follow me. I have little faith in underage consumers to out themselves. I have even less faith in their honesty or respect for an adult's boundaries. They're at a stage in life where they want to push the boundaries. Telling them no is all but inviting them in. I did my blocking spree because I was worried about backlash from someone's parents. But what reasonable judge would come after a fanfic writer? Come on. Logical thoughts but me emotional distress was still brewing.

Why I am the one responsible for who clicks the follow button on my blog? I've always clearly identified what I write and tagged my work as smut.

That thought snapped me out of my whirlwind of anxious thoughts. So I started looking into the laws. My regular work involves medicine, not the legal profession, so I was lost. I found some state level laws that made me glad I'd gone on a blocking spree. California and Florida have specific language in their laws about 'providing minors with explicit content.' But what exactly is that? What I researched applied to the following activities: co-writing smut fanfic with other people, sexting, roleplaying and online messaging.

I run a fanfic blog with limited interaction. I've never done an ask. I don't roleplay on here and I don't want to.

The blocks weren't personal. They were partly based on the awareness that Tumblr is an interactive site and a place that's had a problem with child pornography in the past. But I'm not the smut police. I suck at blocking, and I doubt I did a good job of purging my followers list. This is when it hit me that boundaries are only what I can enforce. They've never been about how other people relate to me, only how I relate to them. (Wow. I've never sounded more like my mother in my life...) After this thought, I started considering what actions I ought to take if I wanted to keep posting fanfic on Tumblr.

My Post Blocking Spree Clarity...

It's up to me who I interact with. I don't have to reply to every comment and re-blog, but I'd like to. I'm stuck between wanting to write for everyone and handling interactions on a social media site that's mostly anonymous.

The fact remains: I can't be the smut police because I suck at it.

What I've decided is that I'll make it very clear on my blog that this is an 18+ space where I publish erotic fanfiction. Smut will always be appropriately marked. I'm not going to interact with reviews, re-blogs, and messages from accounts who don't have their age in their profile. I won't include them in my tag list either. The internet is a public forum. Just as with publishing erotica, once it's out there online for download, it's done. As a ghost writer and an author, I don't control who buys my original fiction, which is just as spicy as my fanfiction. (Trust me, it's explicit. I once had a romance editor tell me I should dial it back on the smutty parts of a novel because "it's a lot of sex for a non-erotica market.") The key difference on Tumblr is about interaction. And that's something I can control. I can decide when I reply to other users. What brought me around to this was the realization that even after the blocking spree, I can't review every single like I get. That's an amount of time and mental energy that's beyond me. Just the past two days have been exhausting and sapped my will to write. Which sucks because I need to go write the next chapter of "Restitution" before tomorrow.

I think the reasons I went on the blocking spree are nuanced. The thirteen year old freaked me out. So did the other underaged people who had ages in their bios. But it also relates to my work. In my job I've seen some nasty child abuse cases. Early on in my career, when I was a 23 year old new hire, I was working on an autopsy for a child abuse victim who'd been murdered by their parent. It was so terrible and graphic, I had to ask one of my older colleagues to take the case. This colleague didn't like me. But she took one look at my face and took the file. She closed out the review without a question and never brought it up again to anyone. I was very grateful. Where I used to work (and where this incident took place) was a major city that holds the unfortunate title of being the human trafficking capital of the US. And something I learned working there was that most human trafficking victims go with their captors willingly. In two years at that job, I never saw one who'd been kidnapped from a dark alley like you see on TV. They were all groomed on social media and thought they were escaping their families (who were often overbearing, toxic, or dysfunctional) for a get away with friends. It was a fun adventure with their internet buddies, until it wasn't.

In retrospect, the underage interaction I found on my blog made me react because of what I've been through. The autopsy case kept coming back to me today while I was at work and I've finally untangled my emotions enough to figure out what caused my melt down. When I was blocking, I was feeling an anxious motivation that I know can only stem from the stress I deal with at my job. Don't feel sorry for me about this - I know my work in medicine helps a lot of people and it's a tremendously satisfying career.

Our Saga's Resolution & How I'm Going to Deal With This In The Future...

- - - - -

In post block clarity, I offer this conclusion:

I'm writing on a public forum. My work is appropriately tagged as smut. In the future, I will also use the tag #no minors to help with filtering. I've always asked underage people not to interact. And on a public forum, what more can I reasonably do? Going forward I will only interact with those who have their age posted in their bio. But blocking sprees and policing every interaction isn't feasible.

I'll review how I'm going to run my tag lists as well. I need to think it over and let my followers know my decision as to if I'll continue using them. Because tagging is definitely interaction and my current tag list was not screened at all. *face palm*

Finally, to my readers who have blank blogs or don't have an age listed. I respect your right to privacy and I'm careful with my personal information as well. But I've also had an uncomfortable two days. If you've lasted through this venting session until now, you must understand that I'm upset by underage interaction. I'm setting my own boundaries and going forward, I'll own my side of the internet. No interaction from me, unless I know your age. Full stop - no exceptions. I think it is reasonable for me to suggest that you leave something on your blog that signifies you are not a minor, whatever that may be. Someone who I didn't block that stands out in my memory had a bio that said "90s baby." It was simple, direct, and left no doubt they were over 18. No age reveal and not even a name. If you put something like this on your blog it'll help explicit content creators feel more comfortable about their interactions.

I went on a spree this Monday and I admit to being heavy handed and aggressive about pruning followers. I had an emotional reaction due to work stress and I didn't think things through logically. I'm relieved for the chance explain myself and set new boundaries that I'm capable of sticking to in the future. But remember - the block button is on my side of the screen. At the end of the day, you might be unhappy with me for the block, but it's my button, it's my blog, and I'll use it as I see fit.

Thank you for reading.

[marshmellonew]

going to assume the huge drop in followers i just had is cuz of tumblr doing a bot purge and not a something i did