#spreadwardiard

[spreadwardiard]

Megatron Does NOT Drunk Call His Ex

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Megatron/Orion Pax, Megatron/Optimus Prime

Summary: Megatron laments his break up while watching Orion Pax's coronation as Prime on the holoscreen.

Notes: I wanted to try my hand at the whole 'drunk calling your ex' trope, and had some fun with it. Takes place in that time between the disasterous senate meeting and optimus being formally named prime by the government. This is TFP/ Aligned

Megatron scowled as he smashed his digits roughly against the keypad to his door.  The numerals on the far left section of the pad were stuck again, not wanting to register his touch. He swiftly punched the mechanism in annoyance, and then tried again.  Percussive maintenance did its job and the pin finally registered.  

He tried not to think about how Orion had complained about the lock for at least a vorn before… Megatron grumbled at himself to stop that thought. Thinking about Orion Pax brought nothing but pain, but even Megatron knew that nothing would stop the onslaught of thoughts, memories and feelings that were certain to come for him in the night. 

It was a battle he had lost many times before, ever since their separation. It was easier to call it that, rather than what it really was: a break up. One he hadn’t actually even wanted to happen. One that was his fault- 

Megatron took in a deep vent, tried to reorient his thoughts to anything but Orion Pax. How the slag was he supposed to do that when he fragger’s coronation as Prime was scheduled to air any klik now? He hadn’t even seen the mech in what felt like ages… not since the argument. 

Frag… He’d already lost the battle, and it had hardly even begun. Megatron’s scowl deepened as he admitted defeat, and against his better judgement, grabbed a bottle of his finest high grade. He grimaced as he actually looked at the bottle in his servo, decorated in golden filigree and ornately etched glyphs. It was the bottle Orion had given him in preparation for their Rites. The thought stung like acid rain. 

He snorted out a forced laugh. The idea of he and Orion binding their sparks seemed laughably distant now. How fitting that he consume the high grade now, for Orion’s big hurrah. He didn’t even grab a cube to pour it in. He wouldn’t need one, he knew himself. The bottle would be empty before the night was over. 

Megatron popped the lid and brought the bottle to his derma, prepared for a harsh, but effective, high grade to assault his glossa. He hated that it was delicious, that Orion had probably paid more for this bottle than Megatron spent on fuels for half a vorn. He hated that it was supposed to be special… shared between them… that he had ruined it. 

At least his revolution was still going strong. The betrayal of Orion Pax may have hurt Megatron personally, but it ultimately strengthened the resolve of his followers. It was a bitter victory, he thought as he slunk back into his sofa, limp as an old thermal sheet. 

If he hadn’t lost his temper and let his paranoia get the better of him, he’d be at that coronation with Orion, not having to watch it on the holoscreen. He took another drink, as large as his intake would allow, before he turned on the screen, and found the correct broadcast. 

The newsmech drawled on about the excitement happening in Trion Square. Thousands of mechs had arrived to meet the newly designated Prime. Megatron snorted again as the crowd cheered in excitement.  They were imagining a glorious leader to light their darkest hour, but all Megatron could envision was the dorky archivist that used to recharge in his arms and who couldn’t remember to fuel himself. 

The bottle was at his derma before the grief that followed the previous thought could hit him. It settled hot in his tanks, and he forced a smile at the knowledge that liquid relief would be imminent. Once the warmth set in, the dulling of his processor would soon follow, and that aching emptiness wouldn’t be so painful. 

He missed Orion Pax and now that nearly a dozen stellar cycles had passed, he would finally get to see him again. On the holoscreen… But that was better than nothing, right? 

The newsmech continued their useless prattle, and Megatron watched lazily as the cameras panned the crowd, every so often freezing on the ornately draped balcony that he assumed Orion would appear from. Even from his out of date holoscreen, he could tell how exquisite the embroidery on the drapery was. It must have taken vorns to do by servo. It looked distastefully splendent next to the polished golden accents that Iacon was known for. 

How many drinks had he had already? His processor was starting to feel a bit foggy. He couldn’t remember. He took another. It didn’t matter anyway. It wouldn’t change what he’d done. It wouldn’t bring back what he’d carelessly thrown away in a foolish fit of paranoia. 

Megatron was ruthless with his words that cycle. He tore into Orion like a vicious beast. Orion visibly crumbled at his accusations of betrayal, and when he accused him of using their relationship as a means to gain power, Orion looked as if Megatron had stabbed him through his spark chamber. He would never forget the pain that had flashed through Orion’s field… 

He was such a slagging fool… It wasn’t until after Orion went off the grid to seek out the Matrix that Megatron put it all together. Orion had never betrayed him at all. The entire situation was carefully orchestrated by the Council to drive a wedge between them, and it had succeeded in that aim. Now, Orion was their puppet, without Megatron there to fend them off and it was all his fault. 

Megatron tore his optics from the holoscreen and looked at the bottle in his servos. It felt too light, and it took him a moment to register that he’d already drank nearly half of it. Orion hadn’t even appeared yet… It wasn’t his fault this stuff was so slagging good. Besides… this was a ‘drink to forget’ sort of night, and he sure as slag hadn’t forgotten scrap yet. Megatron took another drink.

It was harder to focus on the holoscreen. The newsmech was now apologizing for delays. Megatron couldn’t stop a laugh at that. Typical Orion Pax; late for literally everything. He’d have been late to his own forging if that were possible. 

Slag… he felt heavy as a load of cement… What the frag was in this? He hauled the bottle up to his helm, and shuttered his optics, before squinting at the glyphs. He couldn’t focus on them, they just appeared as far off, fuzzy and jumbled nonsense. There was about a third of the bottle left…. Maybe he’d had enough?

He should apologize. Megatron knew that. He’d thought about it time and time again, usually when he was like this and had nothing else to distract him from his woes, but his pride refused to allow that. He never had been good at admitting when he was wrong, and was even worse when it came to apologizing for it. 

What would he even say? Where even was he to start? ‘I’m sorry’ didn’t feel sincere enough, and anything beyond that was likely to just be excuses for his behavior.  He deserved this… what he’d said was inexcusable. 

Megatron ex-vented heavily. His frame felt like dead weight, and the longer he allowed it to melt into his sofa, the more annoying the constant pinging in his hip strut was. How long had it been alerting him of his discomfort now? He wasn’t paying attention. The ache in his spark was worse anyway. He took another drink. 

It wasn’t fair. He wished he could share the enthusiasm shown by the crowd on the holoscreen, but how could that even be possible? With Orion now under the watchful optics of the Primacy, he was as good as lost. The Prime may have had power of his own, but they always followed the will of the Council. Orion would be no different. The Council had too much sway, too much power, for one mech to defy them alone.

The pinging of discomfort in his hip was becoming too much to ignore. He shifted his mass to the side just enough to allow gravity to crash his upper frame into the sofa cushions. The high grade sloshed dangerously in its bottle, but miraculously did not spill from his sudden readjustment, even as he pulled his legs up with him and shifted for relief. 

The holoscreen was mostly forgotten. Instead, he pulled up his HUD and braced for the inevitable sting as he selected an image from his gallery, of Orion Pax lounging in berth. He had a datapad in his servo, and a soft, gentle smile on his face as he read aloud some poetry from the collection he’d been browsing. The poem had been romantic, though Megatron couldn’t remember it now. Orion had only read it to him once, and afterwards they’d ended up indulging in each other’s frames. 

Megatron remembered the interfacing, not the poem, and it stung more than he would admit even to himself. He wished he would have saved a memory file so he could hear Orion recite it over and over again. He wished he could hear him recite anything right now. He hadn’t heard his voice since- 

He cut himself off by forcibly closing the image, which, unfortunately, landed him right at Orion’s commlink. He stared at it for several kliks, toyed with the idea of calling before shooting that idea down with a slovenly scoff. No, the time for that had long passed, and Orion would be too busy to answer anyway, if he even wanted to. He’d convinced himself long ago that Orion had likely already blocked him from contacting him anyway. 

He closed out of his HUD and shuttered his optics. His frame was running hot from the high grade, and his fans finally kicked in to dispel the excess heat. Slag… he must look as pitiful as he felt. The great and mighty Megatron, The Champion of the Pits, brought to his knees over a slagging break-up. He was patheti-

His self degradation was cut off by a loud and sudden ping. It was a comm request, marked urgent. It was from Orion. It flashed at him across his HUD in bold, red glyphs, but that was impossible. There was no way it was real… His mind was playing tricks on him again. 

His optics darted to the holoscreen. Orion was supposed to have made his debut some time ago, but even with his optical inputs distorted from the drink, he could plainly see that Orion Pax was not where he was supposed to be. The ornately decorated balcony was still empty, and several important looking mechs shuffled around in distress at Orion’s truancy.

Megatron’s intake went dry, and that aching emptiness in his chassis returned full force as he, against his better judgement, accepted the incoming request. He tried to speak, but found his vocalizer needed rebooting. 

“Megatron?... Please, don’t hang up…” It was him… He sounded different than Megatron remembered. The reverberation of his voice was slightly off, like his vocalizer was now housed in a larger frame, but the voice was unmistakably Orion. 

Megatron wanted to respond, but his rebooting vocalizer prevented him from uttering more than a distorted and shaky “Hmmm?” 

“Thank Primus, you accepted my call. I was worried you wouldn’t wish to speak with me. I’m sorry I didn’t contact you sooner. There was so much happening, I hardly had a moment to myself befor-” It almost didn’t feel real. He’d so deeply convinced himself that he and Orion were too damaged for him to ever reach out. He had been certain that Orion had blocked him from contact. 

“...and after that I was taken to this strange tunnel system where they placed me in some purification pool…” Orion was rambling, but it didn’t matter. It just felt good to hear his voice again. It slid into Megatron’s processor like the richest of energon, and he was starving. 

“... -fter that I was chased by a small hoard of hibernating scraplets. I genuinely thought that I was going to offline down there…” This whole thing felt far too good to be true. Orion didn’t sound upset with him at all. There was anxiety in his tone, and judging by the speed of which he was speaking, he had a lot to say that he wanted, or needed to say quickly, but there was no anger or resentment, like Megatron expected.

“...-atrix of Leadership…” Slag… he wasn’t actually paying attention to what Orion had been saying this whole time, the high grade had only allowed him to process the smooth timbre of his voice. He tried to think back over what he’d heard, something about a pool of scraplets in a tunnel? . Slag… he still wasn’t paying attenti-

“Megatron… are you listening to me?” He flinched at the question. He was really regretting drinking as much as he had. If he’d have known Orion was going to comm him, he wouldn’t have had nearly as much. Megatron wet his derma before replying. 

“I’m listening.” He sounded weak, and he knew it. He hoped Orion didn’t catch the waver in his tone, his tell that he wasn’t being entirely truthful. 

Orion audibly sighed, but whether it was in annoyance or relief, Megatron couldn’t tell. 

“I know, I’m rambling, I’m sorry. What I’m trying to say is that the Matrix makes me feel things far more intensely than I did before. All it lets me think about is you, and our last meeting… how I fragged everything up that cycle… How much I miss you. I’m sor-” 

It took him several kliks to actually process what Orion was saying. Did he say: missed? He felt his spark practically jump in its chamber. Was that actually what he’d heard? That couldn’t be right… not after the cruel things he’d said. 

“You miss me?” Orion went silent, and Megatron realized that he’d cut him off, mid-sentence, likely in the middle of something important. Something that he, again, wasn’t listening to. He grimaced at his stupid mistake.

“Yes, I did say that.” Megatron tried to sit up, but found he only had the strength to roll onto his back. His frame was too heavy for him to hoist up. He draped his arm over his optics instead, to quell the spinning as his processor tried to adjust to his movement. He definitely had too much. The high grade was flooding his frame now.  It was a struggle just to keep his optics open. 

“Will you say it again?” He cursed himself for how desperate his request must sound. Orion was silent for several kliks, but the time felt like eons as Megatron waited.

“Have you been drinking?” 

Megatron groaned at the question, and that seemed to suffice as an answer for Orion. 

“I miss you, Megatronus.” He let out an ex-vent that he wasn’t aware he was even holding in. Maybe all hope wasn’t lost after all? Maybe he hadn’t completely destroyed the bond he held so dear to his spark. 

“I miss you too…” Megatron’s words slurred together and came out a jumbled mess. He barely got them out. The bottle he forgot he was holding fell from his servos, and he flinched at the sound of it crashing into the floor, the remainder of its content’s splattering across the tiles. 

“Primus… you are absolutely slagged…” Orion laughed softly, and it sounded like bells to his audials. The soothing sound reminded him of cycles long past, when they were happy together. 

“I miss you, Orion.” That wasn’t what he’d meant to say… He meant to ask Orion what the slag was in that fancy high grade to make him act like this. He’d be embarrassed if he weren’t fighting a system shutdown with all of his might. 

“Mega…” Orion’s voice wavered, and the pet name burrowed into his audials. Megatron wondered if he was going to cut the link. He wouldn’t blame him for doing so. He’d fumbled this opportunity in a grand fashion. “Can I come see you? Please?”

 Megatron almost couldn’t process that request. It was so far off from what he was expecting Orion to say that the glyphs simply didn’t make sense for several kliks. 

“Where are you?” Wasn’t Orion supposed to be doing that important thing right now? In Iacon? Halfway across the planet from him? Megatron turned his helm just enough to see the holoscreen. The balcony was still empty. The crowd was still in place. 

“I’m in Kaon… I-I fled my coronation and I… I didn’t know who else to run t-” 

“Please…” He didn’t even attempt to hide the desperation in his tone, he was too tired at this point. His frame may have been in the process of powering down, but his spark thrummed in a mixture of disbelief, longing and joy. 

“Give me just a few kliks… I won’t be long.”  Orion laughed again, clearly with relief and again Megatron was soothed by the sound more than he would care to ever admit. “Thank you, Mega. I was afraid you would turn me away. I was afraid we were…. Over.” 

“I don’t want us to be.” Megatron mumbled and vented softly. His processing subroutines were shutting down faster than he could reboot them. Orion said something after that, but Megatron could no longer process his vocals into anything that made sense. But at that moment, it didn’t matter. The blackout took him as Orion continued to croon softly to him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Megatron came online slowly in the morning. His helm was aching, but not as badly as he expected. He sank into his berth comfortably, and that helped to ease the discomfort his frame should have been feeling. After rolling onto his side, he slowly shuttered his optics, half expecting to be struck with pain, but pleasantly surprised that he was granted a painless view of his berth-side table. 

There was a nearly empty energon cube sitting precariously close to the edge of the table, with a straw sticking out of if. He couldn’t remember getting a cube before he shutdown… Come to think of it… he didn’t remember much of anything that happened after he fell sideways onto the sofa last cycle. 

He slowly sat up, while scratching the back of his helm as he tried to remember how the slag he’d gotten into his berth to begin with. He made a point of not recharging here. It was too big without Orion beside him.  

Orion! 

Orion had commed him last night! The ache in his processor surged as the memory of their conversation struck him all once. Orion called him and he bungled the entire conversation, but Orion had asked to see him.

Against his better judgement, Megatron swung his legs out of berth.  His left pede hitting the rim of something, and sending it careening against the berth-side table: a trash bin, likely set there in case he purged during the night. As he stood, the scent of fuel preparation struck his olfactory sensors. It smelled like fried mineral cakes and thickened energon syrup, the scent of the warmed syrup almost sickeningly sweet. His intake watered, and his tanks clenched in discomfort at their emptiness. 

There was no way… that had to have been a dream, a recharge flux from the high grade and the torture of watching Orion’s coronation.  A hallucination created to torment him for his mistakes.. Right?? There was no way Orion had really come and put him to berth, with a drink… right? 

He lurched towards the door, pausing only long enough for it to register him and open before stumbling out into his living quarters. He could hear the fuels sizzling in his prep station. Slung over the back of the sofa was a thermal sheet, folded, with a pillow resting on top.  

 It must be Soundwave… he must have checked in on the security feeds and saw him passed out on the sofa, and had come to clean up the mess. That had to be it… Even so, it he found more difficult to draw in a vent the closer he came to the dividing wall separating his living space from his fuel preparation area. 

“Megatron? Are you online?” 

Megatron paused in his steps as the unmistakable voice filled his audials. His intake went dry the moment he tried to speak, and he found himself at a loss for words. It wasn’t all a dream. Orion had called him.  He had wanted to see him. He was here… Right there, on the other side of the wall. 

He rounded the corner, needing to see it to truly believe it. Orion stood with his back towards him, obviously engrossed in the meal he was preparing. His frame was new…. He no longer wore a civilian model. He was taller, with a much sturdier chassis than before, and his arms thick with armor and weaponry. It was clearly the make of a warframe, but his colors were the same, familiar red and blue.

He finally felt like he could vent again, and when he did so, Orion turned his helm with a hopeful grin on his face. Their optics met, and Megatron had to rest his weight upon the wall to keep upright. He was beautiful. 

“Orion…” It was all he could say as a million thoughts and words tried to bombard him at once. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he needed to apologize for, so many questions he wanted to ask. 

Orion shut off the flame on the unit, and slid something onto a plate before turning around fully. 

“I know there are many things we need to discuss. But I hope that it can wait until after breakfast. I made your favorite.” Orion held up one of the plates, stacked with mineral cakes, to emphasize his point, and as if on queue, Megatron’s systems loudly pinged a low fuel warning.

Orion laughed. “I guess I still have perfect timing. Sit down, I’ll bring it to you.” 

It was like they hadn’t fought at all… Megatron sat at the table, forcing a reboot to his vocalizer. Orion sat a hefty plate of mineral cakes in front of him, followed by utensils and the thickened syrup, ready to be poured. 

Orion sat down across from him, and reached across the table, where Megatron eagerly met him with his own servo, curling their digits together, as they used to do before meals in the past. His palm was warm, and it radiated down his frame, directly to his spark. Megatron looked up to see Orion smiling at him, in what appeared to be relief. 

Megatron returned the smile, before withdrawing his servo, his nerves now eased. Things were going to be okay, better than okay, if the cakes were anything to judge it by. Orion’s field tentatively reached out to his own, and he replied with his own. It was a quiet reunion, but it let him know that their love still stood strong, and that knowledge allowed him to fully enjoy his refueling. 

Afterwards, they would work out the rest, together.

[viovayo]

Hey idk if you remember me but we were friends a few years ago. I had a lot of blogs I'm not sure which ones we were friends on. Maybe it was spreadward? I lost access to a lot of my old blogs over the years. I just wanted to say hi and that I never forgot you, shit just got really bad.

OMG yes hello! Man it really has been a long time, but I do remember you yeah :D

Shit does have a way of getting bad but I'm so glad to see you're still around and kicking, I hope that means things are looking up for you now ;v; and if not then I hope they will soon.

[cyber-skeletons]

In the beginning, it seemed so simple. The Senate had informed him immediately upon his awakening exactly who and what his enemy was, and he had not questioned them. Why would he have? The evidence was plain all around him. He arose as Optimus Prime, and immediately set out to war against Megatron; Megatronus, in those days, and his Descepticons. Orion Pax had been weak in those early days, his spark still under shock of taking the Matrix of Leadership, capable of little other than tracking Megatron on the battlefield, the spark always settling in whichever nook of his spark chamber was closest to Megatron.  Another harsh stab of fury filled his processors. The Matrix… Optimus could feel Orion's hatred and fear of it. He couldn't understand it. The Matrix of Leadership was a gift to be bestowed only on those worthy of a Prime. Orion Pax should be grateful towards the Matrix. For millennia… he didn't understand. 

Please go read "4 Million Years" by @spreadwardiard if you like angst <3

[lets-try-some-writing]

The Rot: Patient Zero

An infection is spreading across all of Cybertron and not a spark knows what is going on. Ratchet has been called upon to inspect patient zero to try and find the cause of all this. It ends as well as one might expect.

This is a little gift for my dear friend @spreadwardiard and their fantastic fic The Rot.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Where is the patient?” The datapad in Ratchet’s servo cracked as he clutched it a little too tightly. He cursed softly and strode forward with greater speed, First Aid scurrying alongside him.

“We have found several infected patients, but the one we are going to is in the far room, the most secure part of the facility.” First Aid supplied with a hint of worry in his voice. Ratchet hummed and looked over the datapad again. 

Hundreds of reports of a strange virus infecting the lower levels had begun to spread like a wildfire. Every few kliks there was another ping and yet another designation added to the growing list of those infected with the virus. This was an outbreak, and it was growing worse at rapid speed. Ratchet had already given the order to close off the upper regions of Iacon, but the middle and lower levels were being overtaken by whatever this was.

They needed to understand it and find a cure fast. There had been no casualties yet, but Ratchet had seen the Rust Plague. He knew how quickly something so simple as a mere respiratory malfunction could turn deadly. 

“We believe this is patient zero, correct?” Ratchet inquired as he passed by several holding cells where infected individuals were pacing mindlessly. Looking over them briefly, they seemed… lost. Their optics were hazy and their movements disjointed. Most were mumbling about nonsense, but there was a common theme that left a worrying fear nagging at the back of Ratchet’s mind.

“Hungry… need… energon.” Ratchet grimaced slightly as he passed by a particularly delirious patient. The mech was leaking oral fluids, seemingly without any care whatsoever. His frame seemed gaunt, almost emaciated. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Yes, the patient we are going to meet is indeed the one we believe to be the original carrier of the virus. He was at a bar at the time and the infection has spread from that location since. And while we do have enforcers down there trying to keep things in order-” First Aid fidgeted and stepped back hastily as one patient flew against the bars separating him from the hall. The patient’s face was the embodiment of madness, and his expression was lopsided, almost as though he’d had a spark attack and was still recovering.

“What do we know so far? What are the symptoms?” The mech gurgled worryingly as Ratchet grabbed First Aid by the arm and pushed on. First Aid stumbled for a moment before replying. Ratchet took care to not look at any of the patients in the optic directly. He hated keeping patients behind bars, but they were too dangerous to be interacted with. 

“Severe hunger, madness, disorientation, mobility loss, and in the most severe cases, plating loss. It seems to be a degenerative virus that weakens the frame over time.” Ratchet nodded and passed First Aid the datapad as they approached a door. It was thick, black proof based on the structure of it. A wise place to keep patient zero.

“Give me a hazmat suit. I am not going in there just to catch whatever this is.” First Aid was quick to follow the given order and collected a suit from the nearby lockers. Within a klik, his apprentice was back by his side with the materials. Ratchet always hated the suites, but they were useful despite their appearance.

Neon green boots and leg coverings slid on first, kept in place by straps that were fitted over his shoulders. They dug into his seams, but with the covers coming up to his mid waist, there would be no risk of fluid getting near his exposed cabling or plating. Next came the gown with First Aid had to get a stool to help Ratchet get into. The thing was also disgustingly bright green and it fell over his helm without issue. Getting his arms into the sleeves was a nightmare with his arm guards, but he managed. 

Gloves were strapped onto his wrists with tight bindings and the cuffs of his sleeves were tucked into the gloves just to be safe. As if he didn’t look ridiculous enough, the helm piece of the whole suit was quickly put into place. It was a relatively simple design. A draping helm cover fell down from his helm to his shoulders, held in place by straps under his chin. Then to top it all off, a cone shaped, almost beak like visor was slipped into place and locked on. The thing was almost entirely air tight, but there was plenty of room around his intake and optics so that he could run his air filtration systems without issue.

He looked like a hot mess, but he was ready. The bright purple mark of the medic stood proudly on his chest as he gestured for First Aid to step away and made his way through the door into patient zero’s containment chamber. 

“You are… Springstep, correct?” Ratchet called out, his voice coming out somewhat staticy through the communicator built into his mask. The mech in front of him had his arms bound behind his back, a safety measure to ensure he didn’t hurt himself or any staff. If they were doing things properly or if they had more time, the mech would have been given better accommodations.

As it was, patient zero was simply too dangerous to be handled properly.

“Yes? You are… a doctor?” The mech questioned, his optics hazy and uncertain as he looked Ratchet up and down. Ratchet made a noise of affirmation and edged closer to examine the mech. 

“I am. My designation is Ratchet.” Cautiously Ratchet shuffled forward until he was about a foot away from the mech. Springstep looked terrible just from a quick physical glance over. His complexion was awful, his facial protoform sunken in enough that it seemed as though it was stretched too thin. His frame was boney, his hips jutting out awkwardly almost as if he hadn’t had a decent fueling in stellar cycles. 

According to his files, he had been perfectly healthy up until about three cycles ago. Such rapid loss of mass was highly concerning. Perhaps it was a parasite? That would account for the lack of nutrients in the patient. However, it did not rationalize why the virus was spreading so rapidly. 

“Tell me how you are feeling and when your symptoms began to show themselves.” Ratchet ordered as he dutifully began running scans from a safe distance. Springstep was startlingly low on fuel. His systems were resorting to consumption of excess mass in order to keep functioning. There was no way a mech who was perfectly healthy mere cycles prior should have been suffering from third degree energon deficiency. 

“Rotted… broken… my insides burn… my processor… all foggy… started down at the docks.” Springstep attempted to speak, but his glyphs were broken and disjointed. Ratchet grimaced beneath his mask. This mech wasn’t going to make it. Such severe speech impediments combined with his frame’s state did not speak positively of his chances of survival. 

“Where by the docks did you encounter this virus? Do you know?” Ratchet continued his line of questioning even as he began sending pings back to the other medics outside. 

[[Lock down the lower levels entirely. Priority individuals and essential workers are to be moved to the upper levels and secured immediately. Begin administration of hazmat suit instruction to all medical personnel. Not a spark is to be seen without a suit from this point onward.]]

“Don’t… know…” Springstep trailed off and Ratchet frowned. This was just like the Rust Plague, and yet so much worse all at the same time. The virus was spreading just as fast, but the effects were worse, or rather more intense. The rust killed a mech slowly through corroding their insides. Whatever this was worked at an  accelerated rate and with incredible efficiency. It hadn’t even been three cycles and already patient zero was going to drop dead.

A lockdown was the bare minimum.

“Thank you Springstep. I will have one of my associates administer a sedative to help ease the pain-” Ratchet trailed off as Springstep lurched forward, his frame heaving as he purged green goo onto the ground. Springstep’s optics widened and cycled rapidly as he struggled. Ratchet knew that look, it was a sign of madness, the swift clarity before death that faded away into insanity. 

He didn’t hesitate to turn around and run.

Time seemed to slow as he crashed into the door, hurriedly trying to punch in the code to exit as Springstep growled like a wild animal and snapped his restraints. Energon rushed from the mech’s wounds, but he was rapid as he skidded forward, no intelligence remaining in his gaze.

“STAY BACK!” Ratchet lifted an arm just in time for Springstep to collide with him. The mech’s jaw clamped down tight on his arm, denta digging deep and tearing through protective plastic sheeting. Ratchet winced as pinpricks of pain shot up his arm from where Springstep’s denta had dug into him. But he did not waste another moment in kicking Springstep to the ground and rushing through the door as it opened.

He couldn’t use his servos to hurt a patient, but no one said anything about his pedes. 

“Sir! Are you alright!?” First Aid hurried forward, a welder in his servo. He was quick to begin welding the minor cut closed, and Ratchet allowed it. Once his apprentice was done, Ratchet sighed and pulled off his mask.

“I will be fine, but this is far worse than I thought. My orders still stand, but I want every sparkling in upper Iacon put in stasis for the time being. They won’t last more than thirty kliks under this virus.” First Aid nodded and began taking notes, but Ratchet did not wait around. His frame suddenly ached with exhaustion which he chalked up to having to beat a patient into the ground on short notice. It had been a long cycle of handling the situation. He needed rest. There wasn’t much he could do until his orders were implemented anyway.

[[This is a direct order from the CMO of Cybertron. The situation has been deemed a medical emergency for all of Cybertron. From now until the situation is dealt with, medical orders take precedence over all others. Comply or be removed from major cities effective immediately.]] 

He groaned as his message was sent out to every mech of importance in Iacon. His helm pounded and he found he didn’t have the will to make the long march back to his hab. He had a work office nearby. He would stop by there and take a nap as he’d done plenty of times before.

“By the Allspark, this is bad.” He murmured as he arrived at his office and stepped inside. He hadn’t even bothered to remove the suit. His limbs felt like lead and his helm pounded so much that he could hardly see straight. This wasn’t good. 

The bite on his arm burned and his very frame felt as though it were struggling to keep functioning. He hardly had enough time to close the door behind him before he fell to the ground, spark deep exhaustion pulling at him along with bursts of pain he couldn’t fight. 

His optics flickered and he weakly tried to move, to do anything. His limbs would not obey him, and as he lay on the hard ground heaving, he wanted to curse. He should have known better than to march off as soon as he’d interacted with a patient. At the time he had just been so very- -tired.

[novafire-is-thinking]

Six Sentence Sunday

Shockwave adjusted the makeshift stylus in his hand. He concentrated on etching the finer lines of his neck cabling.

Once satisfied, he returned to his optics. Flakes of his metal canvas drifted to the floor as he scraped away—careful to avoid the bridge of his nose.

“Why a self portrait?”

Shockwave glanced through the bars of his prison cell at the bot who’d asked the question, sighing as he brushed metallic flakes from the wall.

A while back, I mentioned I’d been hit with an idea for an angsty IDW Shockwave short story.

Let the pain begin…

Tagging @mattinthehat @lets-try-some-writing @karlyanalora @prismicnexus @onewingedsparrow @dramamelon @spreadwardiard @elendiliel @sphnyspinspin @ivycorp @cleverthylacine + any other fic authors I missed

[flipping-the-coin]

Master list & Rules

Hello and welcome to the official ask blog for the Two Sides to a Coin Transformers Prime AU created by @lets-try-some-writing and @spreadwardiard.

Asks:

-NSFW asks are allowed, but they must be sent to Spreadwardiard directly or addressed to him specifically.

-Asks can be directed toward any listed character and can be related to anything. Being mean to the characters is hilarious so please feel free to go nuts, but don’t be needlessly cruel. Mundane questions are also perfectly fine, they are fun to answer. 

-Please don’t be mean to us. We are just writing over here and hyper fixated beyond words.

-No spam please. Send in your ask but please do not send it over and over again. We WILL see it, so don’t be stressful for no reason. 

-If you think a song fits a character or scene, by all means, share with us. We will review it :) 

-No dead dove. That’s it. Our line in the sand is drawn. 

-Feel free to ask for more commentary from a character if you find them appealing. We will be swapping characters available for questioning periodically. Knowing which ones you like will help us decide who to put forward. 

 What we intend to release:

-Character answers to inquiries.

-Supplementary and additional writings.

-Music for characters and scenes.

-Hints and slight spoilers :)

-Thoughts from the authors :D 

Tags and Links:

The fic- Two Sides to a Coin

The Characters

The Authors

Answered Asks

-Optimus Prime

-Orion Pax

-Megatron

-Ratchet

Supplemental Writing

-Ratchet

-Megatron

-Orion Pax

-Paradox

-Complaints

-Hush

-Jazz

This document will be expanded as needed.

[iwozlegit]

Tagged by: @lesbianambulon

Relationship status: …YES

Fav colors: 🌻💛⭐️

Three fav foods: Literally most tomato pasta dishes, Stir fried beef in a black bean sauce with green veggies, Dominoes Garlic Mayo (it heals all ailments)

Song stuck in my head: All Of Your Lies - Morgan Clae

Last song I listened to: Can You Feel The Love Tonight 🥲 god I’m sad

Last Thing I Googled: I rebooked the creative writing evening class I took during the Spring for Autumn … so, that website.

Dream Trip: A universe where the 4 million year long transformers divorce arc didn’t happen I’d quite like to see Antarctica in the flesh!

Anything I really want right now: To not feel so burnt out 24/7 so I can write my fics more often damn

Tagging: @sugarand-everythingnice @melishade @thebrokenbean @spreadwardiard @dippindots-0n @benadrylcandlewhack @echoblaze5 (and anyone else who fancies a try 🫶🏼✨🍍)

[helmoverpede]

I have decided to create my own space to post about my feelings, my experiences, and my interests. I wished to have a space 'just for me.'

I once sought companionship from others, but my time here has caused me to become quite closed. Unfortunately, I have been hurt deeply. I no longer wish to make friends with others. it has become too difficult for me to trust new people. I am continuously misunderstood in such a way that it is beginning to cause me to shut down. I apologize to all who wished to know me, but I must take time to try and heal from my wounds.

We are a traumagenic system that supports endogenic systems.

This is a sideblog. Our main blog is spreadwardiard. My Conjunx has a blog of his own but does not wish to give the url out. If it is found, it is found.

[tsyal-elentiya]

Post 5 songs in your music rotation and tag 10 people.

Was tagged by @spreadwardiard ! Thanks bud

Down by Rival

Whatever it takes by Imagine Dragons

Mr. Brightside by The Killers

Colors by Halsey

Me Against the World by Simple Plan.

@lets-try-some-writing | @thicctails | @thundersteel | @grahminradarin | @heiress-prime | @puraiuddo

Only got six but here it is

[tsyal-elentiya]

Ain't that the truth🤣

@spreadwardiard

[spreadwardiard]

Yesterday we had 2 beautiful foxes weddings and the prickly pears are blooming!

[cyber-skeletons]

HI EVERYONE we just wanna say we're NOT DEAD, we've been on a very gay hiatus and we wanted to come back but SEASON 2 OF EARTHSPARK IS OUT and we REFUSE to be spoiled so back on hiatus we go until we and @spreadwardiard can catch up!!!!

[lets-try-some-writing]

This here is a collaborative project me and the wonderful @spreadwardiard are working on! This AU of ours ponders on the concept of Optimus Prime and Orion Pax being completely different mecha who ended up stuck in the same frame once the Matrix got involved.

Its a mess of misunderstandings, angst, hurt, comfort, family fluff, politics, and a whole lot of world building! We fully intend to dive into all sorts of characters outside of the main duo and explore Cybertron and how it changes because of this singular development! If any of you lovely people are interested in watching this AU grow and develop, please take a look at our work! We would greatly appreciate it.

With that said, here are some memes to give you all a little taste of what we've developed! Yall are probably going to have to click on these to see them properly though.

[planetformer-central]

Thanks for the tag @prismicnexus!

Tagging: @spreadwardiard, @wildlygay, @riderkaitlyn5,

fuck it. worm on a string picrew chain. let's fucking go

happy worm creation my friends

tagging @areyoudoingthis @cursed-coat-of-homosexuality @peanutbutterex @tfemteach @piratecaptainscaptainpirates (no pressure 💛)

[novafire-is-thinking]

Post 5 songs in your current song rotation and tag 10 people

Thanks for tagging me, @aecholapis! I have the entire IXION soundtrack sitting in my Spotify library waiting to be listened to, and I’m pretty sure I have you to thank for it. 😎

Anyway, it’s musical story time again :D (because I don’t expect you all to listen to these songs when I can just state their significance and let you decide if you want to listen to them)

Total Lunar Eclipse (July 27th, 2018) by Sleeping At Last

(Spotify | YouTube)

The second song in my Soundwave backstory playlist. It’s part two of the musical backdrop for Soundwave’s formative years.

Imagine for a moment what happens when a spark first merges with sentio metallico to become a bot. What does it sound and feel like when an individual comes online and sees the world for the first time? I don’t know yet how exactly I want to write it, but this song captures the vibe I have in mind for the scene. 😌🌌🌙

What Could Have Been feat. Ray Chen by Sting

(Spotify | YouTube)

Part four of the aforementioned musical backdrop. I’m not giving Soundwave an easy beginning, by any means, and this song is directed at [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and maybe [REDACTED].

Voices by Hidden Citizens, Vanessa Campagna

(Spotify | YouTube)

Funny story: I found this song long before I discovered Arcane. I listened to it again recently and realized it’s a perfect fit for Jinx. Then, I went on YouTube to grab the link and discovered the OG music video is a League of Legends thing (but not Arcane). And THEN I saw that other fans had already made the same connection I did and made AMVs for Jinx. However, I linked the OG video since I’m not sure how many would be interested in seeing the AMV. It should be easy to find if you want to see it, but fair warning: There are a lot of flashing lights.

Anyway, Jinx. The song is such a perfect fit for her that I question why it wasn’t used in the show.

Street Fight by Adam Jensen

(Spotify | YouTube)

This one’s currently in my IDW Whirl and TFP Bulkhead playlists. The other day, I had it on repeat as I was thinking about Whirl and how he’s my “shadow” in terms of personality. He will be very interesting to write…

Payback by Night Panda, Rayelle

(Spotify | YouTube)

One name: Flamewar.

*silence*

Okay, so maybe she’s not too well known. I haven’t read IDW2 yet, but I have plans for her. From what little I know about Flamewar from the wiki, her IDW2 version is similar to Whirl, in terms of personality. I guess I just really enjoy putting shadows in my stories >:)

Tagging @onewingedsparrow @karlyanalora @decepticon-nerd @rubixpsyche @geek-antic @lets-try-some-writing @spreadwardiard @huanted-dennys @transformersloversworld @jl1970 + anyone else who thinks this looks like fun

(Honestly, half of you I tagged because I think you’ll find this interesting and not so much because I expect you to take part. But if you do, that’s great too!)

[iwozlegit]

Post 5 songs in your current song rotation and tag 10 people

Oh my god, yesssss. I was tagged by @lets-try-some-writing and @spreadwardiard, and adored the latter’s wee Megop/Megaop take on things so I feel like I could maybe rustle up a few wee songs that I adore for the disaster duo as well (and those ones that help me write, too, especially!)

1.) I See Fire - Celtic woman

I actually stumbled across this pretty recently (probably less than a month ago) and honestly this is so beautiful. I think it serves well to foreshadow and then kind of elucidate a world falling apart to the flames. It’s got a great narrative flow, and personally as far as my tf writings go, this I find is perfect for Orion starting to see those small breadcrumbs that all is not well with the bot he’s so frequently calling his brother 👀…(fun fact: it’s written by Ed Sheeran)

2.) On My Soul - Tobe Nwigwe, Nas & Jacob Banks

I mean…this is probably predictable, right? The film for me personally could have been a bit tighter plot wise (I did like it btw!), but honestly…this song slaps! I remember they released this a week or two prior to the film and I wasn’t as invested with it, but damn the bass of this shakes my car the right amount 🫶🏼

3.) Maria Maria (sped-up) - Santana [feat. The Product G&B]

Now if this isn’t Megop, heh, I don’t know what is. This is totally like someone exterior creating a bit of gossip and narrating about the higher caste archivist taking all his leave to go and see the gutter-born gladiator a little too regularly. I mean, the lyrics: “…Stop the looting, stop the shooting. Pickpocketing on the corner. See, as the rich is getting richer. The poor is getting poorer. See me and Maria on the corner. Thinking of ways to make it better…”

4.) Mary On A Cross - Ghost

Because this is completely original and didn’t take over most social media platforms a few months ago 💀🫶🏼. No, but for real, this is such a class driving song, oh my god! Probably a good pre-war Megop song, too! Like I see this very much as Orion finishing up with the week, and rushing to catch the transport to Kaon as fast as he can with all his datapads he’s bringing for revolution research.

5.) 4 minutes - Madonna [feat. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland ]

Again, this is just a recent feel-good song that I pray plays when I’m driving with my driving playlist. It’s just got a good beat. I think I’d heard the intro tune on a video online and had to find what song it was and well…here we are. (Sidenote: there’s a trend online at the moment where a certain music piece plays and all your favourite characters just walk on all badass to the tune…this could be one of those songs fr. Like the intro really does slap!!!).

Tagging:

@malika-carnelian @wolfkid22 @lesbianambulon @sugarand-everythingnice @thebrokenbean @justawannabearchaeologist @rewindedart @echoblaze5 @letslipthehounds @melishade + anyone else who would like to have a whirl ;) (no pressure to those tagged btw! <3 )