#probably prison mechs too?

[saym0-0]

yeah also gunsmoke/timashes is canon

au where when martin calls their bluff in season 4 (? its been a while idk where exactly) about stabbing their eyes out and running away together, they go fuck you no and actually go through with it. they then go to their only other friends, their former band mates like heeyyy i just disabled myself and cant really live alone rn help 🙏 and boom somehow they restart the mechanisms. jon gets cool steampunk prosthetic eyes. they look like this. (image under the cut). oh yeah they/them jon because they deserve it

(link to the reddit post this is from)

[jweekgoji]

Hiii I really like your writings and headcanons, especially the ones with yandere sentinel from TF 1 being a sub and us being a power femdom.id really appreciate it if you could write about yn or us finding sentinel after Megatron kills him and we repair sentinel just for him to be our dedicated servant boy put on a leash his entire life.

If you don't feel comfortable with the request you can ignore it and take your time no pressure! ❤️

Sentinel/Reader [TFO]

tw: dark themes, emotional manipulation, power imbalance, touch starvation/co-dependency, brief description of past trauma, anxiety, mentions of death, injuries, angst, dubcon [at the end], reader gets a little yandere-ish. word count: ~1830. a/n: i like this request so much, hehehe.

When you first saw your leader being ripped apart by one of the iaconian miners, you were devastated and as shocked as everyone else. Waking up early today, getting ready for another, long and tiring day of work only to suddenly learn that the bot you looked up to was lying to everyone for 50 cycles?

It felt so surreal, here you were standing over the Sentinel Prime. Ruler of Iacon City yesterday, and a leftover piece of scrap today. You're still not certain how you feel about him after what happened. Maybe it was a remnant of admiration for him, after all, how much has passed since the fight?

You were probably standing there for a good few minutes, staring down at Sentinel, not a word or a flick of emotion on your face. That was, until you heard heavy footsteps behind you and a large servo placed on your shoulder.

“You don't have to do this, I can take care of him if you want,” Optimus says carefully. For some reason, the young Prime already felt responsible for his people.

There was a brief silence between the two of you before you shook your helm in response. You didn't want to bother Optimus with this, knowing that he had gone through enough for the past few days. This is the least you can do, helping with rebuilding a new Iacon and getting rid of the past.

A soft sigh escapes your lips once Optimus leaves you alone. This wasn't supposed to be so hard, wasn't it? Just pick him up, and then...what else? Does Sentinel, the selfish betrayer of his own kind, deserve some respect even after his death? To bury him might be a too much of a kind gesture from you, considering that he had no kindness for anyone but himself. On the other hand, melting his remnants still doesn't sound right for you.

You would have kept thinking about it for hours, until a brief, almost too light to notice pulsating of a spark under the tips of your digits caught your attention. You pause, in mind an immediate “am I imagining this? was it real?”, it felt like everything just went quiet around you. A soft beat, then another. Despite everything, the spark inside his chamber was still beating.

And so, you decided to take care of him.

It was a miracle that he survived. The impact of his injuries should have left him dead, you swear, no, everyone swear to see the light goes off from his optics. He was dead, there are no possible explanation for him not to stay offline like he supposed to be. Some might consider it a blessing of Primus himself, for you just a pure luck.

Outliving 13 Primes, somehow not getting killed by quintessons during one of the secret meetings, and now you, the bot who decided to let him live, even though ignoring everything might have been the best solution.

After countless days of work, you are finally able to stabilize his systems, fixing up a few dents here and there, probably left after his last fight with the silver bot. For a cogless miner before, that mech was surprisingly strong, you note.

You hold a piece of a small energon cube in the palm of your servo. Was it the right choice? You never tell anyone, not even Optimus about what you have found. You knew Sentinel would be thrown in prison, if lucky, or hunted down by Megatron if the news reached him. No, you already went too far, letting anyone find out about Sentinel would be a huge mistake. That's why you made sure he didn't get to keep his lower half of the body. He should never be able to leave.

When you gently pushed the energon cube into his mouth, letting it slip down his throat, you waited. A second of silence...another few—until his optics begin to shine light blue once again. You open your mouth to start explaining everything, but you are immediately interrupted by a loud “no!” and you have to clamp your servo over his mouth to make him quiet.

The mech in front of you remembers only the last few seconds before he went offline, that burning pain through his whole body is now forever printed in his mind. You can see the genuine fear in his optics, which soon changed into surprise once he processed everything. He wasn't in the center of Iacon. No one, but you were around him.

Only after a good few minutes of soft explaining calmed his raising spark. Sentinel was relieved, after all, there are some loyal worshippers of his who took care of him and repaired him! As you stood in front of the former leader, you made sure to leave no details about everything that happened after. A new Prime was born, and D-16, now well known as Megatron, is one of the future concerns for everyone in Iacon besides quintessons. Even after his «death» Sentinel made sure to leave a huge impact on your lives for cycles and cycles in the future.

“And about...the other part of me?” Sentinel asks, glancing down where his lower half should be before looking back at you.

You go silent for a mere second before a quick “I wasn't able to repair it” excuse slips from your glossa.

Thankfully, he swallows this response rather quickly, and without questioning any further, that smug smirk appears on his face, ready to boss you again. It was amusing at first. In such a position, Sentinel forgets, he's a no Prime anymore, just another cogless bot left at your mercy.

You were merciful enough to let him live in this fantasy, letting him think that he has that control over something, despite how annoying he gets whenever you don't do something immediately. What do you mean you have to leave him? He's Sentinel Prime, you should obey and listen to him!...Please?

Maybe in the back of his mind, he slowly realizes it. He's dependent. He can't live without you, he can't even reach for a cube of an energon for himself without you kindly putting it on the tip of his glossa. If you suddenly decide to leave him, he's all alone. That takes a good sacrifice of his own pride to give you a few signs, angrily growling a “Don't you dare to leave!” or “I am not done with you, come back this instant!”.

When you had to leave today once again, making him suffer in the silence of his own thoughts and a soft humming of mechanisms in this room, he felt insecure. He hates it, waiting and counting the seconds until you finally come back to him. How could you disrespect him like this? Who do you think you are, huh?

“Oh, please, leave then! I don't need you anyway,” Sentinel says proudly, rolling his optics with a slight annoyance hidden in his tone.

He doesn't need your help, if you leave, it would change nothing for him. You're just another nameless bot, the one who supposed to serve and listen to him, after all. If you don't want to do what he says, there will certainly be someone else to replace you. Right?

Then why, why he feels that deep, suffocating feeling every time you leave? When he calls your name over and over again, his tone changes from an authoritative to a weak, pleading one. No, no, no, you wouldn't really leave him, would you? He panics, breathing a little heavy at the realization that there he is, with no one but him in here. He's so, so screwed.

With each passing hour, his anxiety grows even more. From the most ridiculous to the most horrifying scenarios, he can't help but silently plead for your soon return. A constant “come back, please, please come back, you can't just leave me here,” in his thoughts. Sentinel would certainly go insane if it weren't for a soft hiss of an opening door. You were back.

Once you are close to him, he quickly wraps his servos around you, clinging to your frame for a dear life. You can hear him, muttering something under his breath over and over again, and without a need to ask him to repeat his words, you understand everything.

“I would never leave you, Sentinel,” you say softly, placing your servo on the side of his face, only for him to lean into it, as if begging for more.

“Please don't,” he whispers back, his servo moving to the back of your helm, making you lean closer to his height so he could kiss you.

Who would have thought that Sentinel Prime is such a touchstarved mech? Begging someone to notice him? Like you? If only you had known that leaving a poor bot for a good day or two all alone would make him such a sucker for attention, you would have done it much sooner.

And suddenly Sentinel is not that annoying, noisy menace, as you remember. Every soft sound he lets out, every gentle caress and touch of his servos on your frame, feels like a desperate attempt to make you stay. He wants to show you that he's worthy of your time, if only you stay!

Sentinel's hold on you is tight, as he keeps you right next to him, afraid that the moment he lets go, you're going to disappear. Just a mere thought of it makes him whine into the kiss, and he pushes his glossa into your mouth, as if hoping to please you.

The moment you pull away from him, Sentinel grips tighter, mewling a soft “no”, a look of desperation in his optics. You can't help but feel a pang of satisfaction from it. How couldn't you, when you have someone who is always so needy of your attention? Always looking forward to the moment you come back?

At this point, he doesn't care what he has to do to keep you with him for another minute or two. The old, commanding and cruel part of him is so ashamed of what he has become. Any other good day in past, you would already be mining energon and hoping for a better future, and he would be a king, just like he was supposed to.

“Please, use me, however you want just— just don't go,” he pleads once again, his servos tightening around your wrists, wanting and needing you closer.

And how can you really tell him no if he asks you so, so nicely today?

You only nod gently at his another plead, placing your servo on top of his helm to gently nudge him lower and to position him between your thighs. Sentinel was so great with every word of his speeches that it's no surprise that he certainly knows how to use his own tongue.

[revelboo]

Everything is Alright pt 6

Starscream x Reader- angry

•What does it say about you that you’re starting to look forward to your daily conversations? Besides the screamingly obvious conclusion that you have a bad case of Stockholm’s, anyway. For a giant, probably evil, alien robot, Starscream isn’t exactly awful. Snarky, insecure, and narcissistic, but not awful. And honestly, those flustered, little wing fidgets or startled silences when you play along or agree with him are kind of adorable.

• You’re definitely losing it. The big mech has become a confusing tangle of emotions in your chest. He’s your captor. He’s funny and surprisingly almost kind when he wants to be. He’s dramatic. He’s… a friend? Because, yeah, maybe you are getting a bit protective of the giant alien keeping you prisoner and maybe your heart aches every time he’s surprised or thrown off kilter by a tiny bit of kindness or compassion. Like it’s something he rarely gets.

• So when the door to his quarters slides open, you stand with a genuine smile, hand lifting in greeting only to freeze. That’s not your giant alien. Breath locking in your lungs, you slowly back away to the far side of your enclosure as two robots remarkably similar except in color to your robot enter his space. Sure, you’d realized that there had to be others as terrifying as the thought was, but he kept you hidden away like a secret.

• “We shouldn’t be in here,” the blue one grumbles, optics scanning the room with what sounded like trepidation. Or guilt. “He’s been weird lately. Keeping to himself.” The purple and black one starts opening drawers to root through the contents while you pray that they don’t turn, because your stupid, clear cage is right at their eye level.

• You’re still backing away when you step on the edge of your blanket, the material sliding under your heel as you yelp and fall. No, no, no. Don’t look. Don’t- crap. Both of them turn at the same time and stare right at you.

• “Is that… a human?” Blue alien is frowning as the purple one shoulders past him to stare at you as you do an undignified crab walk to scoot away to the other side of your prison until your back hits the wall. The purple one is grinning now as he reaches to hook a servo over the top edge of your box and tilt it. You go sliding to thump against the hard surface, heart racing as he tilts the cube further until you’re looking almost straight down at the floor below. Does he realize a fall from the height will kill you? Does he care?

• You’ve seen that cruel, amused glint in Skywarp’s optics before. If he’d been human, he’d have been one of those boys merrily hunting down ants to incinerate with a magnifying glass. And now you’re the ant. “Cut it out, Skywarp,” the blue one growls, but he doesn’t move to intervene.

• Instead of stopping, Skywarp reaches his free hand in and you fling yourself back to try and avoid being snatched. That only makes him flatten you against the far wall hard enough your head smacks the surface, stunning you. And then he’s grabbing you in a much too tight grip, lifting your limp, unresisting body free.

• You wonder if he’ll crush you or drop you. Ribs screaming at how tight his grip is, you can’t get a clean breath. Maybe he is going to just crush you slowly. Behind him, the door opens and you catch a glimpse of red armor, relief nearly making you sob. Starscream.

• Freezing just inside his quarters, Starscream’s optics narrow on his trine before alarm jangles through him. Skywarp has the human, its face ruddy as it weakly struggles against his grip. Anger spills through him in a dark tide as he bares his denta. “You dare?”

• “What?” Skywarp demands, voice all cruel amusement as he tosses the human up to catch in his hand. You scream, the sharp sound choking off suddenly. “Why do you even care? It’s only human.”

• You’ve seen Starscream angry before. At least, you thought you had, but this? As he charges at Skywarp, his face twisted in savage fury, you don’t recognize him. He drives Skywarp back, one of his hands seizing the other mech’s wrist and squeezing until he yelps. His other hand prying you free from Skywarp’s grip. It’s not gentle when he snatches you and there’s going to be bruises, but you’re too shocked as he snacks the muzzle of the weapon on his forearm into Skywarp’s face in a very obvious threat.

• Then the other one is there, trying to calm them both down as Starscream presses you to his chassis. You can hear him venting, the rough sound ending on soft growls. You feel like you’re in a fog, aware of the three arguing, but unable to focus on the words. How hard had you hit your head when Skywarp had pinned you? Exhausted, you lay your cheek against Starscream, soaking in the warmth and trying to shut everything else out.

Previous Next

[often-daydreaming]

Kind of a joke prompt.

I've read countless prompts and fics talking about how the Anti-Ecto Acts affect Danny, Dani, Dan, the heroes, etc, but what if it was just a random bunch of people coming up with a work around in order to finally get rid of a lot the supervillains that were protected by the law.

Like Ben (I don't know why I came up with Ben for this) and a couple of his friends start talking about how certain supervillains can get away with just about anything only to get a few months in prison when one of them brings up the Fentons who are one step away from being mad scientists. Anybody who ever went to school with them is bound to bring them up at least once but they get brought up and eventually everyone ends up joking about how many heroes have 'come back from the dead' since the everyday civilian would probably think they were on a vacation or doing some sort of undercover work whenever they aren't seen out in public for a while. Ben adds on to the idea by bringing up how many supervillains have come back from the dead and it kind of snowballs from there until it finally gets to the dumbest idea any of them have ever had.

How would you kill a ghost, zombie, whatever?

What would someone like the Joker even be considered since he's apparently died on a number of different occasions and is somehow so insane nobody can give him the death penalty. Wait... What was that about the Fentons... Their research... Huh??? Let me see that for a second... That could work... It could actually work. We just have to word it the right way, maybe make up a couple of things to make it sound scary but it could work.

It doesn't even have to be about the Joker. With the number of enemies Luthor has you can't tell me there isn't at least one rich person willing to jump on the chance of legally having a way to get rid of him for good. Cause he's faked his death before, been dying only to transfer his consciousness into a clone body and probably pulled off even more crazy things I don't know about and this insane idea might be just the thing they'd need to finally get rid of him since he'd no longer have any rights if the Anti-Ecto Acts pass.

But then they start hearing about a supposed ghost kid and what's this about a hunter in a mech suit and a biker with a sentient shadow. Obviously he's just a meta. The mech suit guy simply had way too much time on his hands and the biker has to be magic. Just look at the baby hero and his rogue gallery roughing each other up but the Fentons are screaming about ghosts again, they're even on the local news now so we have to double down on everything if we want this to work. Quick, grab a couple of guys and go act like Team Rocket until we've handled things over here. You're O, that's Q. He can be Z if he wants. I don't really care who does what just shove the alien squid whatever back into the portal before a Green Lantern shows up complaining about some sort of space law we've probably broke then go around telling everyone you destroyed it or something. They can't prove we didn't.

Remember, we're supposed to be the 'bad guys' people.

[anon-e-miss]

Reformation - 7

Though Prowl had been aroused enough to tell Jazz, valve interface would most likely be doable so long as they took it nice and easy, he did not think there was any rush to test it. After a two orn long heat, Prowl’s gestational tank was plenty full and his intimate circuitry well deserving of a break. In generally, Prowl deserved a break. He had left his leave open, as was a common thing with working Omegas, given there was no knowing when a heat would end. Some Omegas had short heats, only a few mega-cycles, some had cycles that lasted a quartex. Two orns was a reasonably long heat and even though Omega formatting with stood it well, the longer the heat, the more worn out an Omega was after. Jazz knew from experience Prowl worked hard, too hard to take especially good care of him. Now he had an idea of what might have pushed Prowl to fixated on work and nothing but. It must have been easier to live when he had the distraction of work. How sick had he felt every time Alphas tried to use their fields to make him cow? At least when Jazz had seen it happen, Prowl had never flinched. He was far stronger than he thought he was.

“This is not terrible,” Prowl said, showing Jazz how the armour look. The armour was made of a particularly flexible alloy, and styled with many plates. It flowed over his belly. More plates could be added, along with silicone panels, as his forge extended. Provided, the proto-spark did not reabsorb.

“Is it comfortable?” Jazz asked. Really, that was the only thing that mattered.

“It is,” Prowl replied. Jazz had ordered a new chestplate as well. It hugged his wells rather than compress them and was adjustable as well. He looked good. “I suppose I should see Ratchet.”

“Did ya want me to come with?” Jazz asked. “If ya wanna be alone, that’s yer right.”

“Morale support would be good.”

Jazz was happy with that answer. He did not want Prowl suffering due to the fact Jazz had sparked him up. It did not matter that it was a risk of heats and ruts and one he had been conscious of when he approached Prowl. It was probably his suspicious nature due to his line of work and upbringing, Jazz had not been keen to see just any random Alpha go off with such a valuable Autobot. When he had decided to approach Prowl, he had been prepared to be rejected and to take the rejection like a grown aft mech but he had also been ready to book the room next to where Prowl ended up and to make sure the Alpha that took him was not some Alpha spy. Knowing what he did not, the idea of Prowl being taken prisoner was considerably more horrific. It would be horrifying for any Omega, everyone knew what would happen to a captive Omega, but for Prowl… on some level it would be that much worse.

“I know you took an open leave so I can guess why you’ve come for an examine,” Ratchet said when the treatment door closed. “Just why is this bane of my existence here?”

“Love ya too Ratch,” Jazz replied.

“He saw me through my heat,” Prowl replied. “He heard my spark ignite but I don’t recall feeling anything.”

“I generally trust a Polyhexian’s audio horns,” Ratchet said. “Especially ones as trained for snooping as Jazz’s.”

“I thought the same,” Prowl sighed. 

“Lie down on the berth and I’ll do a scan,” Ratchet directed. “The armour is new.”

“Jazz ordered it,” Prowl replied. “The armour I was wearing pinched my protoform.”

“Good choice,” Ratchet said.

“Ori suggested it,” Jazz replied.

Ratchet opened a holo-emitter and took out a small wand. He ran it over Prowl’s spark. Given the two orns of overloads, Prowl’s spark was swollen and full of excess energy. The scanner documented every reading, noted that the increased depth of Prowl’s spark’s corona was within normal range for an Omega freshly out of heat. Everything was normal. The temperature was elevated but stabilizing and the rate of its pulses was normal as well. It was good, if Prowl’s spark had absorbed the protospark, that was fine, but it was important to observe an Omega’s spark regardless whether you thought they had taken or remained open, there were sometimes complications with an Omega’s spark that needed a medics intervention.

“Look here,” Ratchet said. Jazz saw Prowl tense his jaw before he also turned his helm to the screen.

***

“Is that normal?” Jazz asked. The protospark was oblong, instead of spherical and it looked dense in weird spots.

“It’s splitting,” Ratchet replied. 

“Oh wow,” Jazz stared.

“Twins…” Prowl whispered.

“Sometimes in splitting, one or both will reabsorb. It’s a vulnerable time for any proto-spark but proper splitting takes additional energy and proto-sparks don’t always have it in them.”

“Is there something I, or we should do?” Prowl asked.

“Overload is about the only thing you can do,” Ratchet replied. “No merging. It can confuse them.”

“Can I even carry twins?” Prowl asked and he blanched when he realized he had spoken it out loud.

“Twin carryings are a bit riskier than singletons but only by a small percentage,” Ratchet replied. “There’s no reason for me to believe you’ll have any trouble.”

“I am not a natural Omega,” Prowl replied. Ratchet tensed.

“That is not on your medical records,” he replied.

“I did not want anyone to know,” Prowl said. “Mecha that knew, my fellow enforcers, they treated me as something even worse than an Omega.”

“I don’t gossip about patients,” Ratchet assured him. “I think if I did I’d have Jazz and Punch both after my helm. And, sorry Jazz, I think your originator scares me more.”

“Fair take,” Jazz replied with good humour. There was no doubt in Prowl’s processor that he would be dangerous if he  thought someone had wronged Prowl.

“Your physiology is no different than a natural Omega’s,” Ratchet told him. 

“My pelvis was broken before the reformation was complete,” Prowl explained. “I do not know if it was reconfigured correctly.”

“Let me do some scans,” Ratchet said and he did a detailed scan of Prowl’s pelvic girdle. When it was done, Prowl’s skeletal structure was displayed on the emitter, along with his various components. “I can see the connections between your valve and gestational tank are normal. So is the connection between your gestational tank and forge. The channel between your spark and forge is straight and wide, which is ideal and your pelvis, though it is thicker where it was broken, is well shaped. Every thing looks exactly as I would want it to.”

“Thank you,” Prowl replied.

“Take another orn off,” Ratchet said. “I want to see you again in an orn to see how to split went and I want you to take it easy.”

“Is that really necessary?” Prowl asked. “I prefer to work than to malinger.”

“Necessary is debatable in circles,” Ratchet replied. “Alpha medics might have you back in the fields picking talc but I know better than them. Letting your code settle before you are surrounded by them is ideal.”

“I understand.”

Twins. Holy Primus. 

“Jazz?” He asked.

“My place or yours?” Jazz asked.

“For… oh… you intend to nurse me,” Prowl said.

“I intend to take responsibility,” Jazz replied.

“As you should,” Ratchet interjected. “Go with Jazz to his hab. I know what yours looks like. His at least won’t look like a prison cell.”

[kopivie]

hades!wriothesley's constellation is cerberus, yes, but he also has a gardemek that takes the form of a massive three-headed dog. the thing sits motionless in front of his office seemingly powered off, but rumor has it that it roams the corridors of the fortress of meropide after midnight. the mechanical beast grows aggressive during the witching hour, although hades himself will often dismiss the rumors, saying that it is merely attending to unwanted guests.

as a matter of fact, what if he has several cerberus gardemeks? amongst the ranks of the gardemeks that lie in wait in their designated stations, there is also a cerberus mech on each level -- maybe two or three per level, each spaced out so as to maintain order and have all bases covered. when they walk, one can hear each and every one of their mechanisms clicking and turning. each step rocks the very ground they walk upon; a few prisoners (residents as wriothesley would probably correct you) have expressed their concern that a cerberus mech could end up drowning them all some day. of course those are just the ramblings of a paranoid prisoner (resident), but their worries aren't unfounded.

the very first time you tried to enter wriothesley's office, the cerberus gardemek stationed there nearly ripped you apart.

you're too terrified to even think to say the words that wriothesley told you to say when prompted. the gardemek spoke to you just moments earlier, the automated voice commanding you to state your name and business. you weren't aware that you were being timed either, so when you stutter one too many times and take too long to answer, the hulking automaton shifted its stance into that of a predator hunting its prey. it planted its front paws on the ground and lowered itself with its hind legs in the air. if this were a smaller, more... organic dog, it would've been mildly threatening at best. but this? this was menacing. you were not staring down at a dog that you could hide from -- you were being watched by death itself.

state your name and business, the beast warned you. you could hear the hiss of the joints in the jaw moving as it opened its mouth to reveal its silver serrated teeth. unlike the polished, humanoid gardemeks elsewhere in the fortress, the teeth seemed... dirty. rusted, even. your body went cold with the realization that it was likely dried blood.

your mouth opened to answer the question, but no sound came out. your head was a mess. if you don't answer the question, will your blood stain the once-silvery mass of teeth in this monster's mouth? you glanced at the floor briefly and saw that sure enough, the floor was a different color beneath your feet than it was anywhere else -- as if someone had done some intense scrubbing. you held your breath.

by this point, you were too terrified to provide the answer that the mech was asking you for. you briefly considered fighting your way out of this, but you can't take this thing on alone. a few armed gardemeks, maybe, but not something this massive. so, you squeezed your eyes shut when you heard the mech utter the words, "time has run out. eliminating intruder."

aaaand then i stopped writing because i'm falling asleep. obviously you don't die, but you get what i'm trying to say, right? right.

[lets-try-some-writing]

So, in the pretender au, does optimus have the matrix of leadership, and if so, what does it think of him and the parasite business?

Oh he absolutely does have it and BOY the Matrix and those within it are not happy.

Previous part here.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙

He probably should have kept up with the affairs of the living realm, but Liege Maximo gave up somewhere halfway into Nova Prime's reign. Being dead was not all the living children of Primus chalked it up to be, at least not for Liege. Sure there were no more physical concerns, but by the stars, there was none of that peace and quiet nonsense.

Primus had seen fit to put all of the Primes within the Matrix upon their deaths, all to guide those who would come after. It was a logical decision, one Liege saw increadible potential in for himself. If he could get a word in with the chosen Primes, he could manipulate them as he saw fit. Eventually he would find a way to get a new body through the Primes and their near infinite political influence. At least that was his big plan. Unfortunately for him, his siblings were not so keen to let him roam free.

"We are the Primes of old, here to offer our wisdom and guide you, young Prime. But take heed, do not listen to the voice of Liege Maximo. We cannot silence him, and despite his elegant words, he wishes you harm."

It was the same script over and over again. If he was honest, Liege was rather offended. He didn't necessarily want to harm the Primes chosen by the Matrix, he just wanted out of the Primus forsaken relic. It was never ending chatter in their gold gilded prison. Quintus was forever rambling on about something or other. Prima and Amalgemous were constantly bickering over what to do about the newest series of Primes. Then there was Solus who simply refused to shut up about the little glitches who came and claimed the Matrix along with the station it entailed. There was no such thing as peace and quiet within their pocket realm in the Matrix.

As such, Liege simply stopped bothering with the new Primes once they refused to adhere to him more than three times. He listened when his siblings spoke of the new Prime that was meant to come, one supposedly forged in Thirteen's image. However he didn't put much stock in their words. If the next Prime was to be like Thirteen, then he wouldn't be able to say two words before he was shut down. No use trying if he was guaranteed to fail in this case.

At least, that was what his original plan was.

When the time came and a new mech approached the Matrix, Liege was all but shoved forward to observe the candidate. He sighed but observed, quickly growing more and more interested as the mech dragged himself forward.

His limbs were long and gangly, too long to be normal by modern Cybertronian standards according the memories of prior Primes. His optics were wider than they should have likely been, his frame was disproportionate to the point of being almost comical, and the way his field flared was... ominous. He didn't feel like any creation of Primus Liege had encountered. He was certainly still a Cybertronian, but the waves he emitted spoke of CNA that was closer in strain to an Insecticon, or perhaps even Quintus's creations. Something so deviated and yet still intrinsically tied to the Cybertronian template that it neither presented as friend or foe.

The other Primes reeled in confusion. Liege could hear their whispers of how "He isn't the one." But of course, there was no time for his siblings to reject the newcomer as the mech, or perhaps the creature, suddenly dropped to all fours and threw itself forward with preposterous speed. Micronus prepared and electric field around the Matrix, Prima and the others hurried to burn the newcomer if he, or perhaps it, so much as touched them. But in that moment, Liege saw and opportunity. Using what influence he had, he waited until the last moment and disrupted his sibling's defenses, allowing the creature to grab the Matrix and hold it in his far too long digits.

His siblings screamed. Liege smiled as the thing carried the Matrix away, down tunnels and into the dark. His siblings screamed that they would never accept the newcomer, but the thing did not halt in its steps. It moved with purpose until it arrived before an active plasma pit. Liege cackled as the thing held the Matrix over the edge, its voice ringing out in a strange strangled mixture of hisses and chittering.

"We will not adhere to you. Whatever you are, you are not our chosen."

"No, but I am all that remains."

"Leave us. You are not worthy."

"I carry his CNA, his memory, and his goals."

"We do not know you or what you are. You are a face stealer, a creature that haunts the dreams of newsparks."

"I am a failsafe, a being designed to ensure that something of this world endures in the event that my foolish sister race fail to secure their continued existence."

"You are not one of us. We give you nothing. Return us to our resting place so that someone who is worthy may claim us."

"I am afraid I cannot allow that. I need the security that this relic provides. I need the wisdom of the ages in order to ensure that my kind flourish."

"A being such as yourself does not deserve to continue functioning, much less spread."

"Perhaps. But if you will not grant me the wisdom you hold, then none shall possess it."

"You cannot do this. The wisdom we carry is meant only for the Primes."

"Then make me something greater, make me a Prime."

His siblings bickered, but ultimately they conceded. The creature smiled, fangs and mandibles on full display as it parted its chassis to reveal a fully formed spark hidden within a chamber made of calipers more akin to claws. The Matrix was placed within, and the Primes did only the bare minimum to adjust the being they were now bound to. For the first time, Liege put all of his effort into the new Prime. His siblings offered no gifts aside from the usual enhanced strength. But Liege? Oh he did far more than them. With his siblings refusing to augment the new Prime more than absolutely necessary, Liege stepped in.

Looking over the new Prime's biology, Liege wanted to laugh until he passed out. Such a convoluted being. It was a miracle the creature had lasted so long. Plant, Insecticon, base Cybertronian, and even a small portion of Mech-animal CNA were mixed together in an unholy union. The fact that the creature lasted past its conception was surprising in the extreme. It was a wonderful concept, a creature capable of reproducing on its own to eliminate the need for the Well. It's biology allowed it and all its kind to work with the Insecticon colony instinct, getting rid of the pesky emotional distress that the children of Primus felt when put into a role. And most notably, its biology dictated that it's young could be changed, their very CNA adjusted to blend in, to act and seem just like any other Cybertronian... up until it was time for them to wake. It was a brilliant creature, one that simply had a few flaws.

Liege smoothed its coding, easing everything into a far less volatile state so that it would not forever be at odds with itself when around the children of Primus. He adjusted the creature's transformation cog so that it could both have a vehicular alternate mode and shed its disguise without pain. He carefully rearranged how its internals were structured, adjusting its organs to match the children of Primus in appearance so that scanners would not give it away. He went to great lengths to dutifully alter the creature's appearance, granting it something more regal to cover for its natural traits. Then, just as his siblings noticed his intervention, he adjusted one final thing in the creature. It's field was a dead giveaway, so he simply... quieted it. A keen set of optics would still pick the creature out, but the average mech would feel nothing.

When Prima stepped in, halting his changes, Liege simply laughed. The creature had been changed, and now it was guaranteed to last. This being could make Liege a body, and more than that, it was a being made of logic. It would listen to him.

"We will offer our wisdom, but do not heed the voice of Liege Maximo. He will lead you astray-"

"I will adhere to whomever I wish to offer my audial. You will not sway me."

The creature had sensed Liege's changes, it saw him favorably. The other Primes shrank back, most giving up immediacy as the thing's optics became their own. It began its journey toward the surface, toward the Autobots. All the Primes did was plot and pray the creature ended up being killed. Liege however pushed forward, brushing past his siblings to complete the rite.

"We have never had a Prime such as yourself. You need a designation worthy of your station."

"What name would you give me silver speaker?"

"You are the first of your kind, and I believe that given time, you shall usher in a new age for this world."

"Complete your statement. There is little time to waste."

"I would grant you the name Optimus Prime. First of your kind and last of the old line of Primes."

"That is acceptable."

His siblings threatened him, but there was nothing they could do to stop him as Liege kept himself in the forefront of the Matrix. The new Prime did not trust them, and rightly so. The only one who he gave his attention to was Liege, and so Liege did everything in his power to build on the silver of trust given to him. The new Prime was naive in the ways of the world, so Liege directed him. He taught the creature how to speak, how to act, and how to manipulate. He sensed Optimus's will and goals, and he did all he could to assist. He supplied specific memories, cultivating all the knowledge the young Prime consumed. And with every passing cycle, he grew more cunning, more logical-

More like Liege Maximo.

Things were progressing well, but the Prime needed allies he could trust with his nature, and as soon as the Insecticons found him, Optimus had their allegiance. It had been a complete accident, but shortly after Optimus integrated with the Autobots, the nearest Insecticons tracked him down and bowed before him. Liege's augments made Optimus appealing, especially with the Prime's ability to spawn. The Insecticons sensed this, and their coding demanded they follow their "Queen".

The Prime, having cultivated his cunning under Liege's guidance, wanted to do the strategically correct thing and deploy the Insecticons to do his bidding. But Liege stepped in before he could. This was too good and opportunity, and with it, Liege had the chance to make a deal.

"Don't send them out Optimus. Your Autobots are already dubious about you. If you do this, they will find out what you are and refuse to follow you."

"I can conjure a tale. I am a Prime."

"That is true, but you must understand how important reputation is. It would be wiser to use your new subjects to bolster your foundation, to build on what you have."

"What are you suggesting?"

"You cannot spawn because it is not safe for your young yet. But you are also the only one. If you die, your species will have failed."

"Get to the point."

"Use the Insecticons to create a safe haven, a storehouse for your spawn until it is safe for them to grow. The Insecticons will guard them, and in the event all else fails, you can wait until the children of Primus have thinned their ranks and do whatever you wish with your forces."

"That is a logical suggestion."

"Not only that, but should you be killed, some of your young will remain. And in doing so, you also ensure the survival of some of your sister race through the Insecticons."

"I understand. I will follow this advice."

"Good... and to ensure their security, I have a few measures that could be used to guard your brood while you are absent."

"You offer this knowledge too freely. What is it you want?"

"You have learned well. I want a body Optimus. I have been locked in here since the first age, and with your ability to spawn, all you would need to do it connect the Matrix toward your reproductive systems. Then I can move my spark into one of your larva."

"It would mean death for the larva in question."

"A small price to pay for my teachings."

"How do I know you will not turn on me upon receiving a frame?"

"Why would I? You may rule over your kind as you see fit. They would not adhere to me anyway. But in return, I wish to govern the children of Primus."

"You will not harm me or my kin."

"Of course."

"Then the deal is done. Offer me your knowledge to guard my brood, and we shall discuss when you are to receive your frame."

The deal was complete, and Liege could only smile as he sat back and guided the young Prime in his work. Finally, a Prime he could use, a Prime that agreed with him. No matter what happened to Optimus, the creature would keep his oath. In the end, the new species would survive and Liege would get his frame. His siblings begged him to use his trust with the Prime to lead him to death, but Liege refused. They screamed as the named Pretender spawned, and Liege chuckled.

Let them spread, let the Pretenders grow. They would be valuable allies once Liege was set free. They were logical, and so long as Liege had useful skill or wisdom to offer, they would aid him. Optimus had proven as such. The Pretenders were the bane of the Decepticons and Liege Maximo's salvation. He would need to thank the one called Shockwave when all was said and done. The Pretenders were truly extraordinary.

[marinaiguess]

Frontiers but Sonic can’t find Tails.... 

-------------------------------

If he is in pain, he doesn’t tell. 

Besides, there’s no time for that. He needs to be quick and he knows he has to find all the Chaos Emeralds again but that’s the least of his worries. All of the mechs that have infested this island as well do not pose a threat to his ultimate goal. 

He has to find his little brother. 

This is the third island he’s visiting, this one way up in the sky. Anyone could have missed it but not him. Not when he is in such a hurry. As comforting as the feeling of the Chaos Emeralds encircling him was, them giving him all the strength he needed to pull through and fight the last titans, he unfortunately couldn’t hold on to them. Yet, he has to save his friends, no matter what happens. And he will save them. He will allow himself to slow down - just a tiny bit - only the moment he finds Tails. He is sure Amy and Knuckles are safe for the time being because he saw them, he talked to them. He wouldn’t stop worrying until he makes sure Tails is there too. 

In order to free him from his prison cell, he needs those “memory tokens”, as Amy called them. And so, he runs. He runs around the island, on top of the volcano, down to the very edge of the island, even in the underground tunnels and the cyber spaces. He visits all the small separate floating rocks, even the most inaccessible ones, but there’s nothing to be found. Well, nothing except for the emeralds that he wouldn’t have normally noticed, hadn’t it been for their almost calling out to him. Days have passed, he’s sure, despite him not being able to quite grasp the concept of time anymore. 

Is he on the wrong island? It can’t be, the emeralds brought him here for a reason. 

He reaches the center of it all. And he finds the next titan bearing a sword as long as its entire body. This is gonna be tough. Especially at his state. He’s feeling numb, weaker by the second, the weird energy soaring through his veins and messing with his head. He can barely hear the voice that tells him to destroy the titan as his own voice inside his head gets stronger, louder and more corrupted. As if he’s losing the signal. 

As if he’s losing control. 

He doesn’t know who to blame. This weird floating girl, Eggman, the voice in the sky or the titans? But no matter which one has caused this, he’s the one who failed to find his little brother. 

His little brother. His best buddy. 

“Come on buddy. I found our friends. Where are you?”

There’s no answer. Not that he was expecting one. But he was hoping that somehow, somewhere, his little brother was just around the corner, ready to attack him to try and scare him just like they did way too long ago. He is still hoping that he heard his words. But nothing happens. 

He jumps at the titan, not sure of what to do next. He doesn’t need to know where to go, he just has to keep going forward. That’s how it has always been, right? 

The last emerald is retrieved and the corrupted energy is soon replaced by chaos energy that somehow makes him feel warm and safe, somehow it gives him the hope he lost, the energy he needs to put this titan six feet under. He inhales deeply, feeling like it’s the first time he can actually breathe since the moment he stepped foot on this island. 

And then he soars like the wind, not wasting any time, he shoots like a shooting star, aiming for his target. 

There’s no voice inside his head. Nothing can stop him now. 

“Sonic!”

Except for that voice. 

He stops for a moment and looks around. The name barely rings a bell but mentally slaps himself when he realizes that’s his own name. He hasn’t heard it in some time, that’s probably the reason it somehow slipped away from his memories. But most importantly, he hasn’t heard that voice in ages, at least that’s how it feels to him. 

“Buddy?”

A forceful hit sends him flying backwards, until his back meets the cliffside. It takes him a moment to recover but determination takes over and he’s flying once again. Sonic hearing his friends calling out his name, even if it was just his fantasy, was all the strength he was missing to finish this enemy off.

He hears it once again as he catches the sword just in time before it slices him in half. He smiles. He takes the sword in his own hands and does what he is supposed to do. 

Sonic looks at the sky, waiting for answers, desperately. This was the last titan and it’s gone. What else does he have to do to find his little buddy? He exhales sharply, as impatience takes the best of him and starts boosting towards the horizon. In just a second he’s gone.

“Sonic...” Tails whispers, clearly worried as he uses cyberspace to travel to the next island alongside his big brother. A serious face replaces his concerned one. 

“I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. All of it. You can do this, Sonic. I’ll be by your side.” In a couple seconds he’s in Rhea island, floating in the sky just like he was in all of the previous islands. He spots the familiar blue just below him and quickly flies to his side. He witnesses Sonic struggling to keep standing, slouching into his hand. This is so much worse than when they first got here. He seems so close to collapsing and Tails doesn’t remember the last time he’s seen him so broken, so lost. 

“Be careful.” Tails whispers, though Sonic still can’t see him.

“Careful? Where’s the fun in that?”

[tree-obsession]

HSR and Scars+other physical trauma marks HCs

I haven't seen anyone do this yet, but lmk plz if someone has!

Minor spoilers for main plot

Arlan- scars in a lot of places, implied that he could fight as a child and was poor, canonically has a prosthetic arm (at least I think, but works as hc too) and scars on his arm and nose at least. likely has more, esp on arms since using a greatsword doesnt give great defensibility and his moveset involves cutting HP(judging by the animation, using electricity, so electricity scars too? are those called lichtenberg scars?). he's short, and again the childhood implications mean he was probably malnourished.

Asta- probably minor things from working with untested equipment, and has likely burned her hands with her own powers- but, since she's a noble, she's likely expected to be neat, so idk. I like the burn idea tho.

Bailu- she's a healer, so I think what she does get she can get rid of too. But maybe her dragon tail has unhealed bits from failed assassination attempts, or smth?

Blade- canonically has scars basically everywhere. literally got tortured for a really long time, had home planet destroyed as a child and likely didn't get out unscathed (we NEED to talk abt that more), was a forge worker (burns) and did fight on occasion as Yingxing, and then was on the run for about 1000 years or something, and canonically died even more during that time. also has a skillset that involves cutting his own hp. likely doesn't have to eat, but he's unhealthily skinny because of it anyway. chronic pain. somebody give this guy a hug please.

Bronya- she's a soldier, so callouses, blade scars, bullet scars, emergency first-aid scars, and probably desensitized to cold more than the average human bc belobog. really high disregard for pain that concerns seele on a regular basis.

Clara- her. her feet. are they ok. but also some scars from working with mechs and being in the cold, but svarog made sure nothing too major happened while she was in his care. before, though... likely got beat up for being a "pushover" (im crying plz).

dan heng-... chain scars. we NEED to talk about the fact he spent most of his life chained up in prison with guards and people who hated him (minus jing yuan). probably none of the guards would have stopped some of the more violent ones from getting physical- how else would he tear his clothes that much? probably wasn't fed enough or allowed to exercise much. and the chains- listen, i know we joke about the light cone a lot(honestly why was that specifically made into the light cone) but that was really how he lived for a long time. the desc even said he "writhed" and "gasped for breath". he definitely has huge scars from rubbing skin raw around his wrists, ankles, stomach, and maybe his neck? his arms are definitely majorly scarred over and stuff from this, and probably his ankles+legs too. also his eyesight is probably shit from the dark, unless Vidyadhara magic somehow helped that.

bonus: there is a fic on ao3 called "you're looking into their eyes (and find you're looking into your own)" by robyndoesntlikeyou that deals with dan heng having scars that i only found after drafting this post. plz rec any more fics you have on this...

Fu Xuan- i really don't know for her. probably small ones that wouldn't have scarred, but she saw them as unimportant and didn't treat them...

Gepard- similar to Bronya, but maybe not as many since he's a shielder, but more of the lack of cold sensitivity? he's on the front lines lots

Guinaifen- burn scars on forearm and hands. probably can't feel much on her hands too. idk her lore but she's a street performer, so probably not always enough money for food.

Herta- we basically know nothing about her! seriously, she's so mysterious, and her character stories are vague about her past. i can't think of anything, but maybe there were some more dangerous experiments?

Himeko- considering she rebuilt the Astral Express, there were probably dangerous components involved there somewhere... and her backstory still seems pretty mysterious

Hook- diggertron probs caused burns, and life in the underground is dangerous- plus, moles could apparently go to the fight club? which seems like an issue

Jing Yuan- he's a general- lots of war scars. and probs lighting burns because he summons that entire lightning lord/chronic pain.

Jingliu- she definitely has a lot- i'm pretty sure she's the oldest of the hcq, and also got mara-struck/ fought in wars and was on the run and exiled for a long while. canonically constantly in pain due to mara. also really, really needs a hug, except the only person she would probs let hug her is baiheng, who is dead! and also she isolated herself and tortured yingxing/blade. hcq enjoyers are in literally so much pain.

Kafka- would have a lot of callouses, but idk about where scars would be. she would probs cover them up to avoid drawing attention (as she is an assassin), but idrk where exactly. she seems really sneaky, and considering she has no fear there's no reason for her to hesitate in battle. maybe scars on arms from electricity or stray bullets?

Luka- canon that he has scars from wrestling and stuff.

luocha- again, he would probably just heal whatever scars he did get. i really don't know for him, sry ):.

lynx- most calloused hands ever and even more of a weird cold tolerance than others because she's an explorer. probably just doesn't have feeling in some places. and there are probs scars somewhere from when she ran into fragmentum beasts but she's also a healer so...

march 7th- from careless accidents, sure- dropping glasses and stuff, maybe from a few close fights. but her body was wiped like her memories, plus she's a shielder and archer, which is code for not in the thick of the fight and not taking much damage herself, although she has been careless a few times. also, bowstring burns.

natasha- again, she would heal it. but has chronic pain from lugging around that heavy gun and due to age- i think she's in 50s? she's a respected person, and raised seele in the orphanage, but i dont think there's an official age.

pela- cold resistance. maybe some scars from mechanical accidents? and also there were likely some attacks right after she was born since so many of her mother's coworkers were killed.

Qingque- she's clumsy, so accident scars- breaking glass, falling down too many stairs, etc.

sampo- cold res! and probably some close calls since he's such a rat and has enemies, so most scars are on his stomach.

seele- again, growing up in the underworld was tough, so fighting rings + orphanage scraps + street fights, plus some malnourishment since she often gave her food to smaller kids and ran all the errands. was always a fight-first person, but cares a lot and so would protect automatically. has scars all over- many knife ones, some bullet or burns, and electric ones from fixing up mechs.

serval- electric ones from when she was just starting to fight with the guitar. do i need to keep saying cold resistance for the Jarilo-vi ppl?

Silver Wolf- definitely got some, but can aether hacking erase them? either way i doubt she would actually care enough to try unless she was really bored. but also has terrible eyesight, even by punklorde standards. idrk where her scars would be, so spread out mby?

sushang- spent her entire life training and canonically is brawns over brains, so probs more than a few. also her sword is heavy so she probs had some accidents. mostly on her arms and stomach.

tingyun- probs some from people blowing up amicassador ships, since they want to interrupt peace talks and things- but she's fast and experienced.

topaz- had bad lungs, but had a surgery after getting promoted to fix them. some burns on her hands and her sense of smell is a bit screwed up, so numby is often her compass for that (i love numby SO MUCH)

trailblazer- massive scar from getting stabbed through. none from before game started, since apparently they're a puppet. i think they would heal faster, but messily because of that, so a bunch of smaller scars on their torso, face and forearms.

welt- lots and lots from soldier time, especially from debris and the honkai energy probably has some kind of physical drawback. hands are a bit screwed up too, and gets a lot of chronic pain.

yanqing- what the heck is his family history? will it become relevant later? kind of curious how that may affect these hcs, but hands are super calloused and while he often doesn't retain major injuries, he'll only care for them if jing yuan tells him to, so a bunch of smaller scars just from that. mostly on his arms and hands and neck (ppl probs try to stab there often...)

yukong- so many- was huge in the war, so lots of bullet scars and maybe even some that were previously mara-infected and made worse. hearing is shot, uses hearing aids in her fox ears. a bit irrelevant but she is totally awesome.

[catratenjou]

I mostly just reblog and don't post anything myself so I figure I'll do something myself so I can pin it and give you an overview.

Here will probably be NSFT, mechposting and other weird queer kink stuff, as well as a lot of strongly-held convictions I have on things, and if you aren't a fan of those convictions, then you are free to leave. These convictions include:

-Capitalism is a blight upon humanity, socialism is the antidote -Climate change is a real and present danger to humankind -Palestine deserves to be free, Israel is an illegitimate settler-colonialist state and is committing genocide -Transhumanism is cool when queer people do it, weird cishet eugenicist fantasies are not what I'm about -Feminism is a universal issue, not merely a women's issue -Feminism has, however, historically been dominated by white, cis, western, heterosexual voices, and this needs to change -TERFs suck -Sex workers should be given legal protections and safety -Sex is a social construct, not just gender (which is also constructed) -Chess is pretty fun, FIDE sucks though -Your gender expression, presentation, pronouns, and label (or lack thereof) are valid -Prisons in the US are legal slavery operations -Judith Butler fuckin' rocks -Mechs and robots are kinda hot -Racism against white people doesn't exist because racism is a systemic problem -Other philosophical beliefs that are probably too granular and dense for this xd

Also you are loved

[eri-lessthan3]

Right, as my rimworld ice playthrough is nearing it's end (?), I suppose I should introduce the colony!

Behold, the Lanwell! Our humble abode, where we have survived checks the days 463 days, wow!

Let me show you around!

The brightest room we have is the Schneider's throne room, since she is soon to become a countess! And yes, we are so rich that we can afford to keep the braziers constantly lit (this wasn't always the case ;p). This room also functions as a place for people to hang out and listen to music or look at the art collection that is way too big for this small room ;P

Right next to it are the main rooms, from which it all started. The kitchen, which used to be our only room at some point, with a nutrient paste dispenser, fueled entirely by uhhhhh... friendly donors! ^^

We also still have our wind turbines as a secondary power source, though we are mostly reliant on chemfuel generators now! Some of which we stole from ancient vaults, and these guys are very efficient :3

We also have our little storage room right next to it. It is mainly a freezer, buuuut it also stores a bunch of random junk, since this is usually how I end up playing rimworld anyway >.<

Next to the kitchen is the heart of our colony, the hydroponics! This is the only reason why we can live and prosper, as it provides us with food, clothes, medicine, beer, wood, money, and even chemfuel from rice, if we run out of it! Thought this room has seen some destruction before, we obviously need it to always function :3

Our colony grew right from that luscious heart. We have our workshop area, our personal bedrooms (don't mind Dorgo, he is just jealous and he really wants some jade sculptures in his room -.-). Although unfortunately, those two rooms on the left are empty. Rest in Peace, Vulcavein. We also have our research room and a hospital, which is often the target of enemy drops, for some reason >.<

To the right of those rooms, we have completely incorporated this space between our base and the mountains. We have a rec room, which used to be a school, we have our temple to Ithalux, with his sigil painted on the floor. As we are also transhumanist, we have neural superchargers and biosculpter pods, and speaking of that

Say hello to Cambiar! He is currently undergoing age reversal procedures, so he probably can't hear you, actually. Anyways

We have a rather empty, yet surprisingly comfortable prisoners barracks, even though if we ever do get prisoners, they usually don't stay here for long...

And yeah, we also have our small gene-tailoring room from that one time I bothered to go out onto the map for a secret vault, and also bothered to bring this stuff back, but we never used it, and we can't regularly loot vaults either, as it can get to -60 degrees with no problem. Our feeble human bodies must stay inside of the base for most of the time. Speaking of that:

This is the reason we have our mech friends! They help us run our base, defend it, and are our only real way to go outside during the winter without freezing to death. Although we don't really do that anymore, as there is no reason to leave our perfect colony.

Speaking of that, meet Manuel, our first and only android! He is also part of our defences, but he is quite helpful around the base, and he can venture into cold without risking his life that much. In fact, we had to send him on a mission to destroy a mech cluster at some point, and together with our mechs (which uhhh, were hard to control that remotely) he dealt with that easily, definitely nothing went wrong. And he doesn't have to eat, which means that he can caravan forever, I think.

I suppose I could also present these few bedrooms, with Schneider's royal one standing out the most. She has to have one, as we are planning to leave this hostile world and join our new friends in the Broken Imperium. Now that I say it, that name doesn't bring much hope, but it should be fiiiine.

For that, however, we will need to protect a royal for quite some time, and thus we have prepared quite the room for them! You can also see our devilstrand growing zone, as we try to extract the most out of this rocky soil. And uhh, don't look at the top, there is nothing to worry about there ^^'

For you see, we have our small factory over here! Thanks to the VFE - Mechanoids, we can produce steel and plasteel out of basically nothing! This used to produce components instead, hence why the weird layout, but our fabricors can do that on their own. We also have a medicine production facility, though it is currently off. And we have our magic neutroamine generator! Don't question how it works, don't look into that room! Better focus on our neat android workshop, which really didn't need so much random junk there, but I am just figuring stuff out ;P. And yeah, this is why we need the neutroamine!

Yeah, there is nothing more to see of this colony! Just a bunch of monuments and steam power plants, and that is all ;P There is no need to open those doors, they just lead to empty monuments we had to construct for quests and such :3

And that was the tour ^^

Now, the reason I did this is that we will try to leave this planet once the "summer" starts here, and I will try to not save scum too much. I really enjoyed this colony, but I feel like it is time to move on. I have so many other rimworld ideas either way. So yeah, hopefully see you in the stars!

[error501blog]

Overthinking Ghost Cole...

I personally would've enjoyed more Cole Angst as a ghost. However, I think we got enough in Possession. We saw him be shocked and sad in the Temple on Haunted Hill. Next we see him deal with reality of the situation and grow to accept it. I think one more episode of being bummed out about not being human would've been nice. Specifically, before that mountain one. He does grow to accept his ghost-ness within the season. It felt a bit rushed to me, but I don't mind it too much. Cole isn't an angsty person. I think he'd adjust quickly, and he did. It would feel weird if he was moping for a while on what happened to him. He moped for a little bit, but was more concerned with the fact he can't help his friends the same way he used to. His arc is growing to accept he is still valuable even though he's a different now.

I think the main issue of ghost Cole is in Skybound. We never see him continue to deal with reality of being a ghost. We don't see him interact with his father, have issues on the film set, not much. We only have cool power up moments and some gags. (Which are great, I can be nice) Why can't Cole get a separate prison cell when they go to jail? Why does vengestone have to now apply to ghosts? Cole is no longer human, he's something else. He's something other. But in Skybound he's treated as a human, but he can go invisible occasionally. He can still eat food. Nothing is lost, he's better off as a ghost. You lose the feeling of sacrifice.

In Possession we see him jump around water (like when Nya uses her powers, when they fortify their base etc) We have lines which highlight his new change. (Borg saying he built the mech out of deepstone)

Now on Ghost Cole Angst. The only opportunity for ghost Cole angst in Skybound would’ve been from the other characters. Cole’s arc was about accepting his changes and coping with his new reality. Then loving himself again. In Skybound there’s nothing to cope with because he finished his arc. Lou or Lloyd are people who weren’t there with Cole much in season 5 and probably would have a lot of feelings about what happened. A side plot that Skybound could’ve had if we wanted to expand on Coles character is an outsider coming to terms with his transformation. It would’ve shown off Cole's growth and give characters with nothing to do something. (That’s why I suggested Lloyd)

This is just a big ask for a season that came out in 2016. As for what we got in canon, I think we’re just lucky he stayed a ghost in Skybound. The season was meant to focus on Jay, a character who got a backseat in previous seasons. I think this is one of the many issues of having a Jay focused season after a more ensemble focused one. All the other characters took a hit. Having more focus on Nya focused plot line outside of her romantic relationships would've been beneficial for her character. A lot of big changes were made to the story and the Ninja didn't get to recover much or still be affected. Lloyd's father died, he was more affected by this in Possession. Maybe Lloyd or someone from his family giving us a speech about Garmadon in the beginning. Hopefully not from Master Wu. We know his shit, he won't have anything new to the table. My mainpoint being Cole isn't the only one that got messed up in Skybound.

In summary, MY FAVES ANGST WAS SIDELINED IN SKYBOUND, SO NOW I'M SAD!

so that’s why I never mentioned the missed potential of ghost Cole in a post about Possession. It’s meant for a post about Skybound.

Tell me if you disagree with the take. This take is oddly not so controversial for me. (My drafts are mostly x is overrated) So agreeing with fellow members of the fandom or just sharing an idea is probably beneficial for my relationship to the Ninjago.

[brandwhorestarscream]

Knockout is just why do i like these seekers? Their vibes are weirdly homey? What do you mean you can't read their frame language; it's easy to pick up on?

Starscream is looking at this grounder who is moving like a seeker. He's using seakerling wing cant with his door wings. Mech won a staring contest with Skywarp in the medbay and hissed at him untill Skywarp backed out the door. Breakdown brings Knockout a mangled Autobot prisoner for interrogation and KO dosent bother to hide how his engine reves at the sight. "Aw babe you shouldn't have." Starcsream himself sees the bedroom eyes and EM feild coming off Knockout during that incident. The whole airforce is confused because he's a grounder but he in no way acts like a grounder. Scientist Starscream's investigating becasuse this is highly sus. Of course he thinks KO is a seeker sparkling that was stolen from Vos, smuggled to velocitron

It's not untill a seeker's heat triggers KO's Heat and KO ends up laying a clutch of grounders that Starscream realizes exactly what's up. He not a stolen babe, he's somebot's wild oats.

Oooh that's so spicy, Starscream thinking Knockout's a kidnapped seekerling raised forcibly on Velocitron. It makes sense, too, and... methinks, he probably tries to get Knockout onboard with that cover story, or even tells him that's surely what happened.

After all, Knockout's got some pretty strong seeker blood in him. That means an aerie is necessary to his health, on some level. But seekers aren't exactly keen on just anybody waltzing into their space: guests are fine, but new permanent residents are another beast entirely. New additions to the family that aren't born into it usually have to undergo a lot of socially significant stuff: lots of meetings and visits and dinners to make acquaintances and determine if the newcomer is a good fit. This usually happens with prospective bondmates.

Thing is, Knockout looks like a grounder. Seekers generally aren't very welcoming to them. They tend to give them a wide berth and only interact when they have to. If the aerie thinks Knockout is some poor kidnapped seeker sparkling that was forcefully reformatted, they'll be infinitely nicer and 100% onboard with the idea right from the beginning. Sympathy for their own goes a long way, and just imagine all the horrors the poor thing underwent being raised by those barbarians! It's unthinkable!

On the other hand... if they find out he's a half-bred bastard child who's Vosian parent willingly slept with a grounder? Um, yeah. No. They'll want absolutely nothing to do with him and actively shun him. Groundpounder blood diluting their perfect purebred lines and mucking up their aerie? No thank you!

Starscream wants to avoid that drama as much as he can--having Knockout being a kidnapped child is infinitely better than being a willingly produced half breed. It's really sucky, and depending om whether or not Knockout actually knows the truth of his conception could be a big factor.

But, regardless. Starscream still invites him in, and Knockout fits in great as their guest. He can't speak the Vosian dialect yet, but he'll pick up on it quick, and the flyers are delighted

[merlinfromberlin]

Next Time

Smokescreen had been having a terrible cycle.

Warnings: minor robo-violence, Canon Ableist Comments, Smokescreen being quite obtuse & Smokey's obsession with proving himself Chronology: S03E10 - Minus One Wordcount: 1016 words

Written for @angstober - Day 05: Do Better. Prompt list can be found here: X

Story below the cut or on AO3.

Smokescreen had been having a terrible cycle.

First, he had managed to piss off Bumblebee with his comments about the scout’s voicebox when the small mech was maybe the only bot on Team Prime to willingly spend any time with him. It was worse even than simply annoying or angering him. Smokescreen had seen the hurt in Bee's optics as the younger bot had stormed off.

“Wait and see. The claw is gonna become his signature. You know, like the way you own that voicebox Ratchet slapped into your throat.”

::What?::

“I mean, you know, everyone understands you fine. Why would you even consider getting it fixed now. Right?”

If he was quite honest with himself, Smokescreen still was not sure what exactly had been so bad about his comments. He had just wanted to lighten the mood after Wheeljack had soured it. And Bee’s voice was just like… honest to Primus cool. If the scout spoke, everyone immediately knew who he was, what he had endured and achieved for the Autobot cause. The young bot’s reputation proceeded him. As long as he had the beeping vocoder he would never have to fight to be recognised.

Unlike Smokescreen, who had nothing to his name, who still needed a chance to prove himself and could only hope to be remembered as a sidekick to the great heroes he was currently serving with.

Afterwards, the capture and interrogation of Soundwave had gone well enough. Yeah, the Con had not given up any information as of yet. But then again, it was Soundwave, no one had really expected to get anything out of him. He was no Starscream, after all. That did not mean that the Spymaster’s imprisonment was not still advantageous for the Autobots. Quite to the contrary, in fact.

Bumblebee, too, had worked together with Smokescreen amicably enough during the mission itself. The young scout was just professional like that. Even if he had still mostly ignored the rookie before as well as afterwards. Bee probably just needed some more time to calm down and then things would be right back to normal.

So, overall, Smokescreen had taken that whole Soundwave affair as a win.

That was, at least until most of Team Prime had left for an assault mission in the Arctic while Ratchet, Bulkhead and him had been left behind to guard their Decepticon prisoner. Smokescreen knew, of course, logically, that there had been no malicious intent whatsoever in Optimus’ orders, that the Prime was above petty pay-back. Still, Smokey couldn't help but feel as if he was being punished, at least a little, for his earlier transgression against the yellow scout.

“Would both of you stop focusing on what Soundwave can or cannot see and help me figure out what he did not tell. Like why Megatron would be interested in something believed to generate enough power to create a black hole.”

Even if Optimus was not angry, however, Ratchet definitely was. And even if the medic did not mention it, Smokescreen knew that his earlier comments about Bee’s voicebox were at least part of the reason for his heightened exasperation. If the rookie had learned anything during his time on Earth, after all, then that their young scout would forever be Team Prime’s, but especially Optimus’ and Ratchet’s weak spot.

Still, Ratchet had not been wrong either. Instead of gossiping with Bulkhead, he should have been vigilant and focused on their prisoner. Smokescreen was part of the Elite Guard, after all. He had been trained to do better than that around enemies—even if they were very obviously unconscious, especially if they appeared to be obviously unconscious. 

None of that had been particularly good if he allowed himself to be honest. 

However, things only irreversibly went to slag once Laserbeak suddenly crashed through the wall of their new base. How the cassette had even managed to find the military bunker was beyond Smokescreen. Ever since the destruction of the old missile silo, everyone had been even more careful to keep their new location secret from the Cons.

But anyways, they could worry about that later. Right now they needed to keep Laserbeak from reuniting with his carrier. So, Smokescreen shot at the Deployer and hit, clipping his wing but neither really incapacitating nor taking him out completely. Almost unhindered, the cassette sailed over to its master and shot Soundwave’s shackles before connecting himself to the other’s chassis components.

"Oh no."

Slag. Slaggiddy slag slag.

The Decepticon Spymaster was an intimidating presence, had always been—off the battlefield as well as on it. Over the course of the War, Soundwave had rarely engaged in active combat, mostly preferring to lord over the field of espionage. The few battles he had participated in, however, were all notable for being brutal, one-sided Decepticon victories. As far as Smokescreen knew, the Con had never before this cycle even lost a fight. So, even though he should have known better than to falter before the battle had even started, Smokey could not help but be, at least a little, afraid. Based on the gasp and silent shudder behind him, neither Bulkhead nor Ratchet fared much better. 

Thus, when Soundwave rose and immediately trained his visor on their trio, none of the Autobots could help but take an instinctive step backwards, weapons locked in fear. This nanocycle of hesitation was enough to put them on the defence, even as Bulkhead and Smokescreen stormed at him mere moments later. They were losing more and more space fast as the towering Decepticon advanced on them—silent and inescapable.

Within mere microcycles, Soundwave was upon Smokescreen. His creepy tentacles latched onto his outer armour, tiny appendages wiggling their way through the gaps in his outer plating to pierce his protoform. Then the Con set off an electrical current that raced across his frame in painful, blue arcs before it finally overloaded his processor. 

He really needed to do better next time, Smokescreen thought as his visual feed fell apart into pixels. If there was even still a next time left for him.

[sepublic]

Tbh I hated the whole prison-cop subplot in Crystalized and found it deeply frustrating, especially after sitting through the one we got in Skybound. I think way too much screentime was wasted on it, instead of properly fleshing out the actual villains, exploring/resolving other dynamics, addressing the Ninjas' feelings about certain events. But amidst all of the other wasted potential, I really think they should've replaced Hounddog McBrag (probably my least favorite character) with the snake warriors from the sets released earlier that year, as part of Ninjago's CORE line. Because unlike Hounddog, the snake warriors, at the time, were actual sets, and Crystalized later even brought the 4-in-1 mech into the story!

As for what they are, c'mon, it's obvious; They're Constrictai. They're black and orange Serpentine. One of them even has the short minifigure legs the Constrictai exclusively used. And it feels like them and the Fangpyre have gotten kinda forgotten in these newer years, with Ninjago usually defaulting to the Hypnobrai, and admittedly the Venomari in Legacy, when bringing back the Serpentine. So bringing back this tribe into the spotlight would be nice.

Just say these guys are Constrictai bounty hunters hired by the city to capture the ninja; Maybe they have a past vendetta towards them, related to the events of S1 and the Serpentine's failed plot to take over Ninjago with the Great Devourer. Maybe they haven't fully let go of old pains. With a lot of the setting at this point being in the desert, this also makes the tunneling Constrictai more of a threat because there's no structures to climb up, think Tremors. It makes a river an even more fitting way to escape them, if they're bad at swimming.

Instead of a whole army consisting of variants, just downsize them (for the sake of animation budget) into individual characters; Cobra Mechanic, Boa Destructor, Viper Flyer, Python Dynamite, and maybe Sneaky Snake. You could still retain the cowboy motif for one of them, given snakes are usually associated with cowboys anyway. You could even link Cobra Mechanic’s dual flamethrowers to Miss Demeanor by revealing they supplied her!

Have the snake warriors harass the ninja in the desert for a bit, and then they disappear when the Crystal King properly enters the plot. Then when they return, it makes more sense because they're not general keepers of the law, just bounty hunters hired for this specific mission, who already have a grudge against Lloyd and Garmadon and thus aren't really worried about maintaining the peace.

And when Lloyd does make peace with them, it's in the sewers where several crystalized Serpentine are; Seeing Lloyd and Garmadon spare these crystalized Serpentine gives the Constrictai bounty hunters more reason to pause and reevaluate their motives, especially when someone else is hurting their kind and not just humanity. And then maybe they can show up at the end to help against the Crystal King and with rebuilding the Monastery, I dunno. This could play into a larger theme of letting go of revenge, which is relevant to Harumi's story, and could play into Lloyd not wanting to embrace his anger as an Oni (plus the Overlord's return being fueled by hatred).

Dragons Rising still managed to acknowledge the CORE sets of its year with the Greenbone Warriors, who actually show up and play very brief, yet nevertheless antagonistic, roles. If we're not going to focus on the actual Crystalized villains even though these episodes are already airing during their set wave's release, you may as well allocate screentime to antagonists from actual sets instead of making up another generic human cop character.

[heliopauseentertainments]

Inspired by Solar Flare, Hot Rod doing his outmost to become the new Lord Protector of Megatron Prime, after the death of his previous Protector.

Except it's probably a bit more straightforward romance?

I haven't decided if this needs more than one scene yet, but here's a setup scene for the concept. If I end up deciding to do more, I'll pop it up on AO3. If not, I'll just pop it up there as an open-ended vignette.

Currently there's no title, but:

Continuity: IDW1 (roughly)

Relationship: Megatron/Hot Rod

Characters: Megatron & Hot Rod

Rating: Teen

Eventual Tags: AU of an AU, Canon Blending, Past Relationships, Referenced Character Death, Romance, Recovery from Grief

Summary: In which a seemingly unqualified suitor vies for the open Lord Protector position for the Prime of Destruction

Small. Thin armor. Loud paint. Incautious gait.

Megatron could have crumpled him like a frail sheet of foil if he so chose.

Yet in front of him, posed confidently with his hands on his hips at the foot of the impractically tall dark granite dais, beamed some red little fool the herald had introduced as “Hot Rod of Nyon.” Given the obnoxious flames painted on his chest, Megatron thought the mech’s name was a little on the nose.

This scrawny fool, apparently, wanted to be the Lord Protector of the alleged incarnation of Destruction itself. What a ridiculous thought.

Since Orion, Megatron’s previous Lord Protector, had succumbed to early onset cybercrosis more than three decades ago, Megatron had spent most of his time alone.

He, in fact, intended to keep it that way.

Watching his partner waste away against an invisible foe had been more of a punishment than being forcibly ascended to a position of ritualized shame and fear for his crimes had ever been.

The ritual mourning periods of seven months, then thirty months, and then a decade had all passed. The generals and officers who made up his “priesthood”—more like a religious militia meant to keep him in check—hadn’t pressed him to take another protector before the formalized markers of grieving had been reached. It wouldn’t have been proper, for all they, his prison wardens, pretended to care about propriety even when their “Prime” still lit decennial memorial lamps.

Megatron, regardless of his own opinions on the matter, was kept around solely for the fulfillment of ancient laws and summoning his strength in times of war. The First Prime was nominally the Prime of War, but Sentinel spent far too much time playing politician, leaving Megatron as the de facto holder of the purview.

It wasn’t as though he needed protection, not physically. He could protect himself, as was obvious from the battlefields they pleaded that he would drench in spilled fuel, like the arena of banal bloodsport they had unilaterally plucked him from. When Megatron had turned the rare suitor away before, the battle clerics hadn’t objected too strongly.

Usually.

Besides, it wasn’t as though suitors were commonplace. Not many were lining up to consort with a “deity” of death, forced to use his violence as a tool for theocratic control. Orion, before his untimely death, had been an irreplaceable exception. No one is else would or could ever take that place again; it would never be the same.

Starscream, the general who oversaw all the others who allegedly paid Megatron homage, was a sharp-eyed mech with innumerable half-spoken agendas. He relished being what passed for this "Prime's" high priest, chief jailer rather. This was clearly part of some of his machinations.

He stood, smirking, next to Megatron’s throne, arms crossed in front of his chest. His gleaming white wings were held out wide as he swayed side to side, not-so-subtly trying to make his heavily embroidered cape undulate in the artificial breeze.

“Starscream, this is unnecessary,” Megatron said, hunched over with his elbows against his knees. He glowered down at Hot Rod. “You know this is unnecessary.”

Hot Rod was hardly much bigger than one of Soundwave’s mini-bots, who were generally relegated to sabotage work as a result. A Lord Protector, expected to accompany him into the heat of battle, could never be allowed to fill a less combat-oriented position. Hot Rod would end up as little more than shrapnel littering the battlefield.

“Come now,” Starscream said, his slick grin stretched broad. It barely concealed that he was up to something, a fig leaf of pious duty. “It’s been so long since you’ve kept any company but your own.”

They both knew the other role a Lord Protector fulfilled: controlling the sacred monster.

“He’s not—“

"You've been lonely, absorbed in nothing but your work for far too long."

Starscream, of course, would be eager to have someone once more take up that mantle… for the approval of the public rather than practical necessity, given Megatron’s self discipline. That was likely why he had allowed this fragile mech to even put forward a petition. Any tether at all was better for their reputation than a beast with no leash.

“I’m right here!” Hot Rod, speaking for the first time, brazenly put his foot on the lowest step on the dark dais and smacked his tiny fist against his chest. His beaming grin became a frown at the perceived disrespect. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.”

What a rude little mech.

Talking out of turn, ascending the dais uninvited…. No self preservation to be had. The distance was supposed to be for the protection of any visitors, in case the “god” lost control. More time for the jailers masquerading as devotees to restrain him if the Lord Protector didn’t get there first.

This Hot Rod was clearly on some elaborate suicide mission for some reason. This was far more effort than most would bother putting towards such an end; there were doubtlessly easier ways to go about it.

“Just how badly do you want to die?”

“Not at all, actually.” Hot Rod didn’t back down, a determined look set on his face. “A big shocker, I know.”

Not the answer Megatron had expected, not that mechs tended to be forthright about their deathwishes.

“What exactly is your purpose here?”

“Surely, that’s self-evident.” Starscream’s opinions, as usual, were unnecessary so Megatron ignored him.

He merely repeated the question to Hot Rod, who had begun climbing the dais as though he thought he’d been given some sort of invitation. His bright paint was a stark contrast to the stone, black as the void, giving the impression of a rising star.

Some of the officers, all armed with guns and blades, stationed at various points up the steps began to shift, bristling with unease at the blatant disregard of norms. Several stepped forward, as though to get in the intruder’s way.

Megatron gestured for them to take no action.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s obvious what I’m here for.” Brow furrowed, Hot Rod continued scaling the dais, stepping past the officers as though they were harmless bystanders. Armor clattered in the quiet hall as they made way for him.

Hot Rod’s bravery reminded him somewhat of Orion.

Orion had not climbed to meet him, no, but had lain down his weapons on the floor of the hall and had challenged Megatron unarmed combat.

Hot Rod too was challenging him in a way, but why?

Megatron silently let him approach.

Starscream whispered a reminder to mind his manners, as though he were some uncouth newbuild courting for the first time.

If only Starscream didn’t have wings…. Megatron occasionally considered pushing him off the side of the platform.

Once Hot Rod reached the top level, he stopped just within arm’s reach of the throne.

Megatron leaned forward, as far as he could without overbalancing. Seated, he was at Hot Rod’s eye level.

“What do you gain by asking this?”

Hot Rod’s bright smile was back, this time as a smirk, like he thought Megatron was joking.

“What do you lose by letting me?”

Smart aleck.

“Why are you determined to die?”

“I’m not.” Hot Rod shrugged, as though that were the obvious answer despite all evidence to the contrary.

“So you’ve said before, yes, but that’s the only outcome at the end of the path you’re trying to walk.”

“That’s my business, I think.”

Stubborn.

“So be it.”

Huffing, Megatron waved Starscream over without looking at him. The clicking of thruster heels against black granite told him that the high “priest” had obeyed.

“Yes?” he purred, clearly pleased with himself. He was getting what he had wanted after all.

“Have him trained. Presuming he survives, schedule the ceremony.”