#the Arcturus missions

[typewritingyip]

The Arcturus Missions

Part Twenty Four - Closer to Home

Part Twenty Three

———

There are projected to be at least seventeen planets or planetoids that have oceans or internal oceans, most of which are covered in ice. There are fifty four that are orbiting their star close enough that could facilitate liquid water instead of frozen.

Earth’s surface is around seventy-one percent water, where oceans hold around ninety-six and a half percent of all the planet's water. The water also exists in water vapor, through rivers and lakes, as well as in frozen form such as that of glaciers and icebergs. Further, water exists in the ground both in soil moisture and aquifers.

Lastly, humans are made up of roughly sixty percent water along with other materials. 

It is possible that years before, Cybertron had non-acidic water both on the surface of the planet and the undersurface, though now most if not all water that exists on the planet is acidic. 

All the rainfall and snowfall on Cybertron is acidic and harmful to cybertronian life. It has been lost to time whether the water on the planet has always been this acidic or not. 

—

Shuttle trips usually happened early in the morning, before night turns to day, so that everyone can get some rest on the trip before any potential fight. More than half the mecha aboard were asleep, but Sunstreaker and Bluestreak were still talking over a private comm.

Bluestreak was hiding his smile, eyes closed but still viewing the visual feed that Sunstreaker was sending him, head leaned back against the headrest of the seat, “I don’t mean offense, but life on your planet sounds so hectic.” Sunstreaker smiled, shrugged a bit while finishing off his food, “I think that’s just because our lives are so short comparatively.” He sighed a bit, brushed a hand through his curls.

Bluestreak onlined his optics briefly to look at Sunny’s, well, mech before offlining them again, “Don’t talk about that, please.” His voice almost wavered and Sunstreaker held his hands up, nodding a bit, “RIght, right. No talks about my impending doom.” He chuckled lightly but shook his head. 

“Blue, you know what organic life is like. You’ve seen more of it than I ever could, it’s not a topic we can simply avoid.” Sunny sat back on his cot, rubbing at his jaw a bit, and Bluestreak sighed deeply, “Please, just any other topic.” Nodding, Sunny looked down for a moment. 

Nodding again, Sunny looked back to the camera, “Why on Earth, sorry, uh, just why does everyone seem to be in on some inside joke about us?” Blue sat silently for a moment, a long moment, one which started to concern Sunny if he was being perfectly honest, “Blue?” Bluestreak cleared his throat a bit, “Sunny, I think we're landing, uh, you might want to get hooked back up.” “Ah.” Nodding some, Sunstreaker goes over and turns off the camera, “Talk to you in a minute then.” Before disconnections from the comm.

Blue sat there in silence, optics still offline even as his face burned with embarrassment. 

It took a moment for Sunstreaker to get around his suit, frowning down at it, “This is what’s going to kill me Blue, and there is nothing you can do about it.” So he started to pull on his assistance suit, wincing as it pinched and pulled.

The suits themselves weren’t terribly light, light enough to walk around in, even outside the mech but heavier than normal clothes. It was more similar to wearing kevlar head to toe, plus a riot helmet. The bottom half was always the easiest part to go on, it didn’t have any connection. Everything after that was another story. 

With the chest section next, it was hard to maneuver into, a solid piece that was designed to protect the vital organs and spine. Sunstreaker winced as the magnets activated against his shoulders, pulling lightly as the suit found the connectors under his skin. Those were his least favorite, the ones he couldn’t see, couldn’t scratch, and would never be removed. 

Next was the arms, which only became a different component in later iterations of drift tech, like what he and his brother had. Hound and Breakdown’s top sections were chests with light sleeves, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had armored sleeves. He got the left side on first, not wincing as the magnets found the connections in his shoulder and upper arm. Wincing when the physical connectors shocked him.

”Damnit.” It was rare when there would be a shock or a misconception like that.

Unclipping the arm, he adjusted the position and connected it again, not wincing this time before doing the same with the right arm. 

Last was the helmet, which had a connection to the upper part of his chest, reinforcing the spinal connection throughout. 

This was both the easiest and hardest part. Easiest for it was what truly connected you to your mech, made it to where you’d forget you were piloting a several ton machine around instead of being the machine. Hardest for it had the most connections, the external implants, the things that ooze and bleed when fighting overuse and the most painful connection point.

He slipped the helmet on and headed over towards his chair as the magnets found the connectors, sealing to the implants with a sickening squelching sound from the discharge. A shock ran through Sunny’s system as he got into the chair, grabbing several wires and cords to connect to his shoulders along with the base of his helmet.

Not every suit required the hard wire in, some people were able to have just their connections to the assistance suit and the piloting chair, but some people needed that little bit extra help. Usually the people that didn’t last long as pilots. Sighing, he brought up his visual feed and reactivated his audial processing.

Most mecha were still asleep, though it was clear that they were descending now. Bluestreak sat forward, holding his rifle and staring at the ground, probably waiting for Sunstreaker to be back in his seat. Smiling a bit, Sunny shifted and looked to Blue, “Do you know what planet this is?” Blue glanced over and smiled a bit, barely.

”Unfortunately, I think the only mech that knows that is Ironhide and Skyfire. It’s gotta be some place significant though.” Shaking his head slightly, Sunstreaker sits back, “Why?” Bluestreak smiled now and rolled his eyes, “Cause Skyfire is a pacifist. Less Starscream kicked him out of his own hab, again, he’s probably here to collect samples.” Sunny nodded and sighed.

Over the loudspeakers came a voice with a thicker accent than Sunny was used to among Cybertronian’s, “Alright mechs, this is your commander speaking. We are going to land on, whatever the pit this planet is called, in a few klicks. Enemy is already visible on the horizon so we’re probably going to come out of this guns blazing. We’ll set up camp later. Be ready.” When the audio cut people started to move. 

Sunstreaker stayed seated, only adjusting the position of the blades on his bracers with a slight sigh, glancing out the corner of his eye at Bluestreak as he was adjusting the scope on his rifle. Holding the absurdly large gun with such ease that it brought a slight smile to Sunny’s face.

The landing was touch, they hit the surface and bounced twice, the mechs around them swearing loudly, “You know just cause he’s a shuttle doesn’t mean he knows how to fly a freight shuttle!” Someone across from Blue and Sunny shouted at the front. It got only a few chuckles as the shuttle finally settled on the surface. 

Ironhide came out of the cockpit, waving his hand, “Oh shut up, everyone listen up. The surface of this planet is not great, it’s granular so I’d recommend adjusting your seams if you can. If you’ve ever been to New Kaon, it’s like that but well, you’ll see.” Many mecha groaned and started to adjust. Sunstreaker ran a diagnostic to check his seams before looking up at Ironhide, “Civi, you’re with me.” Sunstreaker stared at Ironhide and muted his mic, “Fuck.” before standing.

Although he stood taller than Ironhide, the mech was still intimidating. They moved over to the large door and Ironhide looked to Sunstreaker, “Go ahead and open the door Civi, you get to be the bearer of bad news.”Nodding, Sunny moved to hit the big red button, “Yes sir.” It was going to be at the very least, a long day. 

—

Sideswipe, Breakdown, and Jazz were the last ones left in Iacon. Prowl was away doing only god knows what for the Prime, and they were all getting rest before they’d have to ship out.

To put it nicely, Sideswipe was pouting, his arm in a sling to ensure that his shoulder would heal properly and not further injure itself. With Sunstreaker gone now, he was left with the two people who wouldn’t help him weasel his way back out of the apartment. Breakdown, who was still on bed rest so was of no help, and Jazz who was worrying like a mother hen.

When Jazz had gone through overuse, he hadn’t had a way to try and alleviate it. So he was reinforcing the need to not be in the suit, mostly trying to keep Sideswipe occupied now. Sideswipe was staring at the ceiling while Jazz was telling him the story of one of the many battles he’d been in when first arriving here. 

It was unbearable, at least for Sideswipe. 

—

The big door slowly lowered to the sand, revealing an oddly familiar sight to Sunstreaker, who was staring open mouthed at it. Ironhide sighs, resting his hands on his hips, “Well, tell them the bad news Civi.” Nodding a bit, Sunstreaker looks back at the mecha who were still getting up, “Uh, right. So, it appears we're on a planet with a lot of water.” Every bot groaned loudly and several swore again.

“Oh my primus, that is a lot of water.” Bluestreak was staring out the now open door, frowning at the expansive horizon, glancing at Sunstreaker, “Have you ever been to a place like this before?” Nodding again, Sunstreaker smiles sadly, “Yeah, something like that.” He sighed slowly and started down the ramp. 

Ironhide was still standing at the top of it, “Civi, where do you think you’re going?” Glancing back, Sunstreaker gestured at the water, “To the ocean, sir. If you don’t mind?” But he didn’t stop moving even while Ironhide started to follow, “Actually, I do mind kid. Now stop fragging around.” Sunstreaker reached down and ran his hand through the water, collecting some for a sample. Ironhide swore and grabbed his shoulder, “Kid, stop that! I’m serious.” 

Looking over his shoulder, for a moment Sunny really wanted to hit Ironhide in the face with the water before the diagnostic report popped up and he sighed. Standing and shaking off his hand, “It’s salt water. Only thing it’s good for is surfing and swimming.” Ironhide stared at him, “What?” With a shrug, he flicks what little water was left on his hand at him.

The look Ironhide gave was enough to make Sunstreaker take a half step back and Bluestreak to come over, resting a hand on his shoulder, “Right, so, water planet. Not great, so why are we here?” Diverting the topic would only get them so far.

With a deep sigh, Ironhide looks out across the water, “We don’t know why the Quintessons are here, what they want, or why they are staying above the water. For now, we’re supposed to watch and protect the shore line if we can.” Sunstreaker stared at the horizon, at where a scout ship was just hovering above the water.

It looked straight out of the pictures, just like the graining news feed, the moment that his planet had been invaded. 

He couldn’t just stand there and let it happen to another planet, “When are we going out there to kill them?” His voice was gruff, hands flexing with anger, “We’re not, Civi. It’s too dangerous plus the water is corrosive.” Ironhide was staring out that way too, frowning, “But I don’t know why they aren’t attacking us yet.” Sunstreaker glances at him, shaking his head and moving to help the others with unloading the shuttle. 

Though it was obvious to him, it wouldn’t be to any of these people, none of them had grown up watching the broadcast in schools. None of them had grown up watching the pilot program grow and heroes arise from nothing. Not a single one of the mecha around him knew this is what it looked like when the Quintessons were planning an invasion of a planet.

Sunstreaker had studied it, every pilot did, trying to find the tells of these alien invaders. He’d studied it before his parents died, for a research project on modern history, he’d built a damned diagram of these things for a grade. 

Setting down the crate, he was breathing heavily, his blood boiling. They were standing around doing nothing for a planet that looked so much like his own. Standing on the coastline for a moment he could remember the feeling of sun and a breeze on his skin, surfboard in hand while Sideswipe flirted with some of the girls on the beach. Board shorts instead of assistance suits, open air instead of his cockpit confinement.

The entire shuttle was nearly unpacked when he started to come out of his angered stupor, having just been moving crates from the ship to the sand, on autopilot and stewing darkly. 

Earth or this planet, he wasn’t going to let it happen again, he adjusted the oxygen levels in his suit and adjusted the seams before starting towards the water. 

It was as soon as the water hit his feet that he adjusted his stance, his cadence to wade out into the ocean as he’d done hundreds of times before. He could hardly hear the murmuring of mecha behind him, eyes focused on the ship in the distance, this was not a mistake he’d let his species make again.

“What are you doing Sunstreaker?” Ironhide was standing at the shoreline shouting as Sunstreaker was around waist deep in the water now, moving deeper and activating a certain setting. Sunny turned on his comm, glow of the visor shifting, “I was designed to fight in these specific conditions Commander, sir. I’m originally from a place called Florida back home, I was designed to be not only in the ocean but to fight in it.” He glanced back at the shoreline, where everyone was watching him like he was insane.

Good, he’d rather be considered crazy than not be considered at all. 

—

The waves were washing up over Sunny’s shoulders and his cockpit had cooled down significantly the further out he got, running scans to show all the nearby organic life. Ironhide was still shouting in his ear, but he was focused. 

It was too much like home, it was too much like the past he hadn’t been around to stop. If he could stop it from happening here, then it would give him some sense of peace in this crazy life. The ship wasn’t far now and that was made very clear when a laser light hit his shoulder, “Oh shit.” The ocean around him exploded as he dived under the water. 

Too much like Earth, so much like the news footage they watched in school, it was bringing back the strongest memories that were trying to drag Sunstreaker to the ocean floor. 

Most explosions were around him and he was just barely avoiding them, kicking at the water to get closer to the ship, to hopefully mess with its tracking. His comm was muffled from the water, the voices on the shore garbled and unclear. Though it was clear at least one voice was in fact screaming.

Sunstreaker’s helm broke the surface, cockpit still submerged but dry, though he still took deep gasping breaths as if he’d actually been underwater. It took Sunny a second to reorient himself, finding the ship significantly closer than before and it was easy to smile, “Not much further, come on Sunny.” His voice was quiet, comm still garbled as water was pooling.

A single scout fell from the opening hatch of the ship, it probably was one of maybe two on board, and it hit the water a few yards from Sunstreaker who stared for a single moment before starting to kick his way over, nearly growling.

One of the blades on his arm connected with the things beak, slashing through part of its face and spraying green gore across Sunny’s yellow plating, turning it a sickly brown but it didn’t matter. It dove at Sunstreaker and they both went under the waves.

—

Bluestreak had his scope trained on the horizon while Ironhide paced at the shore line, everyone else had been ordered back and kept at a distance, “He’s reckless.” Ironhide glanced at Bluestreak, who was watching through his scope, “As you’ve said, he’s a civilian. This is probably what he did back home.” Blue winced when he saw a large splash and a yellow ped appear over the waves.

Sighing deeply, Ironhide turned back to the fight in the distance, frown deepening, “What’s a Florida?” Bluestreak laughed, lowering his gun to look at Ironhide, “That’s been eating you alive, hasn’t it sir?” Ironhide harrumphed. 

—

Tentacles were wrapping around Sunstreaker as he fought the Quintesson, one arm pinned to his side but the other still slashing at the damned thing. It was bleeding everywhere like a person stabbed and turning the water green from its stunning clear blue.

Sunstreaker was struggling a bit, his cameras were starting to blur from the water and blood mixing together, his foot coming up to try and catch the side of the alien. Getting one tentacle caught in the crease of his knee, he pulled till the appendage came off. The Quintesson scout screamed.

It was trying to drag him deeper into the water, keeping one arm pinned even as Sunny was tearing it apart, blades cutting into its skin, leaking blood like it didn’t need it. It was almost funny when it wrapped a tentacle around the neck of his mech.

His blade and arm went into the alien with a screeching of metal, and all Sunny could do was grab whatever was there then pull.

It exploded, not literally but just about, its internals splattered across Sunstreaker and the ship above them as the thing screamed and thrashed. Grabbing hold of it the best that he could, Sunstreaker hauled himself up and out of the water, looking up at the ship before turning to look at shore. 

Though Sunny couldn’t see him, he knew Blue was watching out for him so he gestures to the ship above before shifting his stance the best he could to jump. A series of gunshots hit the hull of the ship which lowered towards the sea out of defence, just enough for Sunstreaker to jump and grab the edge of the opening, pulling himself in. Disappearing from sight.

“Who’d have thought the inside would be as ugly as the outside.” Sunny mumbled, moving through the space carefully, arms up and ready for an attack. The ship wouldn’t have moved if the Quint dead in the water was the only one. 

The cockpit didn’t really have a visual of the outside, but it did have a Quintesson to kill. So, Sunny dragged one of his blades along the wall, which sounded like nails on a chalkboard before he grinned as the thing turned, “Hello ugly, do you regret coming here yet?” And he dove on the thing.

It died quickly, cleaved in half, splatting the space in green and its tentacles curled tight. Sunstreaker was caked in gore, it stuck in his seams and stuck to his plating. Then the ship listed and Sunny slammed into the wall, grunting as he hit it and it jarred him in his chair. That moment brought him back to reality, back to clarity and he stared down at his gore covered hands.

Or well, his suit's gore covered hands. He wasn’t on Earth, they had been sent to observe and he had completely violated that order and handled the threat single handedly, mostly, “Shit.” He wasn’t even sure when he went from thinking clearly to thinking like, like…

It wasn’t even worth mentioning, “Shit.” And the ship hit the water.

———

A/N

So, I’m sick. I wanted to post this chapter hours ago but I just finished it. It really isn’t beta read, I might come back through and fix it when I feel better, but I really wanted to post my Sunny chapter.

But yeah, I am sick. I thought I might be better but I simply am not. I found out the hard way people with pots can’t take Sudafed without feeling like dying and having a resting heart rate of like.. 100. It was miserable today.

Tags:

@lunarlei68 @whirlywhirlygig @loop-hole-319 @pixillandjester @alek-the-witch @not-a-moose-in-disguise @goddessofwind8water @neurologicalglitch @dersereblogger @pixel-transformers @mrcrayonofdoom @wireplaces @twilightfreefaller @original-blog-name-2 @devilangel657 @robbin-u @childofprimus @miniartistme @starwold @tea-enthusiasm @valeexpris606 @celticdoggo @bird599 @agentsquirrelsgotrobots @aquaioart @dimencreasatlas @thatwandercat @artdagz @seisha974 @starscreamloverfr @halenhusky309 @leethepiper @cat-cassette @blue-wrens @sirassban @astridkolch @cosmique-oddity @garbageenthusiast @osqindaxend @xervias @azulabutterfly @fryseem @spring-mc @echo-circuit @aghostsnail @wooblewooble @ask-glory-haddock-and-others @nonsscarpheap @magichats @iminahole247 @omgflyingderpywhale @pour1tin @thetrexartist @naaaafam @elegantmantaray @emichusai

And once again thank you to @keferon for this amazing AU!

[cosmique-oddity]

Arcturus One : Designs

Heheheh

This extremely INCREDIBLE FIC can be found here

AU belong to @keferon

Additional characters ideas and Fanfic (Masterpiece) plus all of it additional lore were made up by @typewritingyip

I wanted to bring something to this incredible piece of work, and I write really bad, so I thought I might draw the pilot gang of Arcturus I,

No i didn’t just tought …….it …..IT ASPIRED MY BRAIN BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH I LOVED THE CHARACTERS HAHAHAAH

So anyway, have these references sheet made with all of my love (never drew mecha that weren’t TF coded before that LMAO hyper faction does that to a MF)

Sheets based of Keferon’s one, must keep it professional/j

Have another drawing of the gang without helms !

Short King Hound live in my mind !

(He is actually not that small, the others are just giant !)

Thank you again for this inspirying work, yip !

Cosmos ✌️

[typewritingyip]

Wow, this is epic?

I finished and then some

[artdagz]

This is what I can share so far:

Prowl and Sunstreaker - Mission Control Part 1 (sidequest)

Anyways,  Prowl and Sunstreaker going on a recon mission together cause Jazz got sick after being on a long mission before and Sunstreaker was the only other human mech that was free at that point. Sort of like a solo Episode feel thing, nothing to fancy. Currently part 3 and 4 are mostly done part 2 is still giving me a little trouble

What was supposed to be only reconnaissance ended up more than they bargained for. 

…….

Prowl pressed closed to the solid rock behind him as skittering legs passed by him, locking all his joints and vents to stay silent.

From where he stood he could just see the hull (mech) of the human hidden in a crevice on the opposite side of a path through some alien vegetation. 

The human wasn’t inside, though, he was on some big plant he had referred to as a tree earlier. Sunstreaker was about optics level for prowl and luckily twice as high up as the scouts head that was passing him this very moment.  

Prowl wished he could just radio him without it making noise, that there were more than just the two scouts they could see right now.  But meeting the humans’ optics relaxed him a little. 

Sunstreaker gave a nod towards prowl while clinging to the tree inhumanly still. 

A feat, especially since said human was holding a few berries he had picked from it.

Sunstreaker was breathing so shallow it couldn't be heard despite the stressful situation. Prowl never saw one of the humans be this still and silent and it would have come with the fear of the other being offline, if he wasn't actively clinging to a tree with four berries each the size of a human head in his arms and tracking the movement of the two quintesson scouts (buglike creatures) through the clearing with his optics.. eyes.

When prowls sensors told him the scouts were out of reach enough for them to be safe to move again, he unlocked his joints and started up his vents again as silent as he could without risking overheating.

The humans relieved breath was almost drowned completely by his own vents, but Prowl saw the visible shudder going through him. 

When Sunstreaker gestured for him to come over, Prowl checked the clearing with his optics one more time just to be sure. 

The quintessons sending so many scouts without being tipped of messed with his tac net, the probability was so low it was laughable. 

Then again, when they had landed a quintesson ship came out of hyper space unexpected, maybe this was a precaution on the quintesson side.

Prowl moved over to Sunstreaker when he noticed the human starting to look around anxiously as well.

It took a bit of maneuvering to get the berries and Sunstreaker down but once he was down Sunstreakers relief was easily visible and he ran over to his mech leaving the berries with Prowl. 

Prowl scanned over the berries hoping they'd be helpful in providing the humans what they needed. 

When Sunstreaker saw they went to an organic planet Prowl had agreed to see if they could find some different fuel for the humans as Sunstreaker said some more vitamins might help with everyone's issues,  so Jazz’ issues as well. 

While Sunstreaker approached Prowl, the cybertronian decided to take a few of the berries from the tree as well and put them into his own storage just as he had done with a few others earlier.

As Sunstreaker bent down to pick up his own berries, Prowls radio crackled to life.  

“Phew, that was something, thanks for the warning.” Sunstreaker huffed “Can we get off the planet now?” 

Prowl gave an affirmative and added “but we should move cautiously, it is not unlikely that the quintesson ship might pick up on us starting our ship.

Infiltrating their base in the current situation to see if we could use their space bridge is very much not adviseable and should be a last resort.”

Sunstreaker snorted “yeah, wouldn't have dreamt about that” the shudder was easy to hear in his voice. 

As they walk, Prowl asks “did your.. side quest.. bear the desired results?”

Sunstreaker hummed “oh.. yeah the scans show the stuff we got should help. “ 

Prowl exvented “Good” 

The short answer might have thrown Sunstreaker off a while ago but they all had learned that Prowl was genuine and even with his effectiveness he didn't mean to be rude.

It made Sunstreaker smile since he knew the question meant Prowl cared, mostly for jazz, yes, but he was watching out for the others as well, Prowl had shown that plenty of times.

One time, he even came home with jazz’ mech in his arms and everyone was surprised to find jazz inside Prowl instead as jazz mech had gotten damaged significantly. 

The cybertronian went as far as scanning jazz’ mech and even letting his human steer him to save them both. 

Prowl and Sunstreaker walked in silence for a bit when Sunstreaker suddenly stopped,  Prowl turning to him, worried.

Wide eyed Sunstreaker asked Prowl “can you feel that?!” 

There was a rumbling going through Sunstreakers whole body along with a pressure shift. His mechs sensor didn't pick anything up, he only felt it through his human body. 

His hair was standing, a cold feeling running down his spine, primal fear.  A feeling of something dangerous being close.  

Sunstreaker checked his feeds and sensors as Prowl looked around and judging from the doors moving behind his back was scanning the area as well.

“I don't..” The cybertronian started before there was a rumble underneath and they both started running. 

Behind them the ground split up as a big centipede like technoorganic creature with a worm mouth burst from it, charging the two. 

…..

[sgt-tombstone]

Polaris

This is my secret santa gift for @gorsime/@farahfriday! I hope you like it!!

----

When Simon was a kid, he stole a book about space from his local library. Not his finest moment, to be sure, but the guilt of it was vastly outweighed by the comfort of scrambling up onto the roof of his house—the only place where his dad couldn't reach him—with nothing but a flashlight and his pilfered book. He'd sit up there for hours, naming the stars and tracing the constellations, until the sun rose and hid the tiny pinpricks of light once more.

The hazy glow of Manchester hid all but the brightest of stars, so many of his favorites remained little more than pictures on a page, but he glutted himself on Arcturus and Gaia, Cassiopeia and Andromeda. On good days, he challenged himself to find as many of the zodiac constellations as possible. On bad days, he stared at the North Star for so long that his eyes blurred and his chest ached. He didn't know why it called to him so strongly—its brightness, maybe, or its stubborn persistence—but he knew, with an inexplicable yet unshakable confidence, that home for him wasn't the building beneath him. Home was due north, somewhere along the longitude pointing true north.

When he joined the military, he assumed that his true north was a long-lost dream. Officer training had briefly reawakened the dormant sparks when he'd had to sit through a seminar on astronavigation, but the embers were snuffed just as quickly. Dead men had graves, not homes, and he didn't feel the pull of Polaris deep in his chest for a long time. Not until recently. Not until Johnny.

----

Ghost didn't give the universe credit for much—it had screwed him over more times and in more ways than he could count—but he had to admit that, at present, things weren't as bad as they could be.

He'd long since stopped expecting missions to go smoothly, because life didn't work that way and apparently neither did the 141. Being an optimist in the military was a recipe for disaster, so most soldiers maintained a healthy dose of realism, but Ghost had fully swan-dived into pure pessimism years ago and hadn't ever really breached the surface, despite Soap's consistent and concerted efforts to sway him towards some sort of sustained positivity.

At the current moment, though, the tables had turned. For once, he wasn't being the pessimistic one.

“Just our fuckin' luck," Soap spat, kicking at his gear bag before continuing his rampage around the small cabin. "Stuck all the way out here in this god forsaken forest, fuckin' middle of nowhere, piece of shite safe house-"

The mission had been easy, almost suspiciously easy, but Ghost wasn't in the habit of looking a gift horse in the mouth; he'd turned himself into a well-rounded veterinarian, capable of handling whatever inevitably, predictably went wrong. And in the grand scheme of things, this particular gift horse was barely limping. Sure, he and Soap had been separated from the rest of the 141, forced to retreat to the only safe house in four hundred square miles, all communication cut, but it could have been worse.

"How the fuck are we supposed tae get out o' here?" Soap growled, ripping his earpiece out and hurling it to the floor with a wordless scream of frustration. "Comms doon, no radio, fuckin' smoke signals or catch the nearest fucking pigeon-“

Ghost was leaned against the wall next to the only door, his arms crossed over his chest, enjoying the show with a single raised eyebrow. He knew that most of Soap's anger wasn't really anger; their separation from the rest of the 141 had come in the form of several very close calls with stray bullets, followed by over an hour of climbing up a forest-blanketed mountain to their one-room hideout. Adrenaline, fear, and exhaustion warred in Soap's blood, erupting as righteous, turbulent rage. Ghost's eyes tracked Soap's movement around the room, letting the artificial anger flow around him like water in a stream.

"Dinnae ken how long it'll be before they find us," Soap ranted, pulling his tac vest over his head, sending a mag pouch skittering across the floor. "Fuckin' sitting ducks out here, we are, waitin' for some bampot to pull their heid out o' their-"

“Thought you'd be happier to be stuck in a safe house with me, sergeant. Weren’t you the one who mentioned cohabitation recently?” Ghost asked, cutting his sergeant off, and he regretted the words as soon as he said them, his joking tone doing nothing to soften the way they landed like a mortar shell in the middle of the room.

Soap had brought up the topic of moving in together just before loading out three days ago, a half-finished conversation, and Ghost hadn't had the chance to answer one way or the other before they'd had to board the transport for infil. He could tell that the lack of response had weighed on his partner in the days since. Joking about it now was probably a bit too much, too soon. Soap spun in place and fixed Ghost with a withering glare, every muscle held taut with barely-contained rage.

“Tha's no' what I meant and you fuckin' know it, Simon.”

“I know, Johnny, I'm sorry," Simon said gently, his entire body softening on an exhale. He took his mask off and opened his arms slightly, an invitation. "Come here, love."

Johnny needed his boyfriend right now, not his CO, and despite Price’s grumbling on the subject, the two of them did a bang up job of keeping the two facets of their lives, the two aspects of their relationship, separate. He watched as Johnny sloughed off the tension in his shoulders and trudged the short distance between them to press his forehead to the ridge of Simon's collarbone. Simon wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, glad that he'd had the foresight to doff his own plate carrier when they'd entered the safe house half an hour earlier; the only thing separating the two men were their shirts and several layers of dried sweat, and he could feel Johnny's heartbeat against his ribs.

“We’re going to be okay, sweet'eart,” Simon murmured, pressing a kiss to Johnny’s temple and burrowing his nose in the dent that Johnny's headphones left in his mohawk. He swept a hand down Johnny's spine, coaxing him to relax against him. “We always are when we’re together."

He felt Johnny heave a deep breath and nod before his arms came up to wrap around Simon's back, gripping the fabric of his shirt in his fists.

"Don't terrorists know tomorrow's Christmas?" Johnny muttered, and now they were getting to the crux of the issue. "Don't they know I'm supposed tae be in Glasgow with my boyfriend right now?"

"I don't think they care, love," Simon rumbled with a smile. He was helpless against it, his chest constricting with awe and affection every time Johnny called him his boyfriend; such a simple thing, but it meant everything. His free hand wrapped around the back of Johnny's neck, gently massaging out some of the tightness in the muscles at his nape. They stood like that for several moments, swaying slightly in place as the adrenaline of the mission eased and their heartbeats softened to a synchronized thrum.

"We’re safe," Simon continued lowly, dropping his head to speak in Johnny's ear, his lips moving against the shaved portion of his head. "No one’s shooting at us, neither of us are injured. We have a well-stocked safe house in a very defensible position. It's the only safe house in the area, so Price'll get Nik out here by tomorrow, comms or not, no messenger pigeon required. We're gonna be okay."

"I know," Johnny said. His voice was muffled by Simon's chest and he drew back just enough to look him in the eyes, blinking slowly like a cat.

"We can spend New Years in Scotland instead," Simon said, his lips brushing against Johnny's forehead. It wouldn't be the same, he knew—Johnny loved Christmas, had been so excited to bring Simon home for the holidays for the first time—but it was something.

"Lookin' tae get a New Years kiss outta me, Simon Riley?" Johnny grinned, wiggling his eyebrows salaciously, like Simon needed a special occasion to kiss him. He rolled his eyes and pressed his lips against Johnny's in a chaste peck, just to prove the point.

"Every year, for the rest of my life, Johnny," he said, then took a step backwards and caught one of Johnny's hands in his, tugging him towards the door before he could fully process what Simon had said. "Now, come on, come outside with me.”

“Why?”

“It’s a beautiful night," he smiled. "We’re going stargazing.”

And it was; this close to the equator, December temperatures rarely dropped below 20 degrees Celsius, and the sun had set a few hours ago, leaving the mid-winter air just shy of too cold. The trees had already lost most of their leaves, granting them a good view of the night sky, undisturbed by light pollution.

Simon led them to the roof of the safe house, tucking themselves and their guns between two dormers; they were several dozen miles from the warehouse they'd raided hours before, but Simon didn't want to take any further unnecessary risks. He braced his feet on the gentle slope of the roof, his arse already protesting the rough shingles, and tugged Johnny to sit between his bent knees, back to his chest. The warmth of Johnny in his arms chased away the slight chill and any remaining tension that clung to their bones.

"Tha's gotta be a planet," Johnny murmured as they settled, pointing to a point in the distant sky. "Look how bright it is."

"Hm," Simon hummed in agreement, glancing up to get his bearings among the stars. "'S Mars." He laid his palm over the back of Johnny's hand, entwining their fingers. "There's Cancer, just behind it." He swept their joined hands to the left in a slow arc, sweeping above their heads. "There's Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, and Aquarius, just above the horizon. But look, see Capella, right there? 'S the brightest star in its constellation, Auriga, but it's actually four stars all bunched together. I don't remember their names, but it's two pairs of stars orbiting each other."

"How do ye ken all this?"

"Looked at the stars a lot as a kid," Simon shrugged, knowing that Johnny would understand what went unspoken in the mundane statement. "You should always be able to find the North Star, Johnny. Find the North Star and you can find your way home."

"Awright," Johnny said, leaning his head against Simon's. "How do ye find the North Star?"

"You see Ursa Major, there?" Simon asked, bringing their extended arms back to the right. "'S one of the most recognizable constellations. The two stars on top, Merak and Dubhe, form a line, and if you follow it up," he traced the invisible line with Johnny's fingertip until it hit, "Polaris. The North Star. As long as you're in the Northern hemisphere, that's true north."

"What if I'm in the Southern hemisphere?"

"Then you're fucked," Simon said, deadpan, and Johnny snorted a laugh.

"No, I'm serious," Simon protested, prodding Johnny lightly in the side in chastisement, but he was chuckling too. "Polaris is a pole star, it's aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation in the Northern hemisphere, but the Southern pole star—Sigma Octantis, I think—is barely visible, even on a clear night. You have to use two other constellations , the Southern Cross and two stars of Centaurus, to find approximate true south. It's a pain in the arse. Stick to the Northern hemisphere."

"What aboot that star?" Johnny asked, pointing to another bright spot, and Simon easily obliged.

They spent the next hour or so curled around each other on the roof, Simon pointing out every constellation he knew, along with fun facts about the stars in them. Anyone else would've thought Johnny to be uncharacteristically quiet, but Simon knew the man was a sponge; the fastest way to get him to shut up was to teach him something new. Finally, Simon exhausted his knowledge of the visible stars, and they fell into a comfortable silence.

This, he thought, was the closest to heaven he'd ever get. Johnny, safe and warm in his arms, spread out beneath the stars, the only two human beings for miles. He'd never given thought to his retirement, never thought he'd get that far, but if he did, he wanted it to look something like this. Johnny would hate it, he knew; the man was too social to live the rest of his life in the middle of nowhere, but maybe they could find a happy medium. If anyone could, it was the two of them. Their entire relationship was a game of balance; sunlight and shadow, passion and duty, pleasure and pain.

"We could do it, you know," Simon murmured after a few minutes, his voice nearly lost among the sounds of unfamiliar birds and bugs settling down or revving up for the night.

Johnny hummed in question, and Simon realized he had continued a conversation that had happened only in his head.

"This," he elaborated. "Us. We could retire, spend our days just like this."

"Ye dinnae have to retire, Simon, I ken how much ye love yer job," Johnny said, tilting his head to knock gently against Simon's temple. "When I was talkin' aboot movin' in together, I only meant off base." He caught one of Simon's hands in both of his own, kneading idly—almost nervously—at his palm with his thumbs.

"I'd love to move off base with you, Johnny," Simon said earnestly, forfeiting his hand easily to his boyfriend's ministrations. "But… We've been in the game for a long time, love. Reckon we've earned ourselves a nice retirement. Get away somewhere, just us and whatever slice of nature we land in."

"Are ye sayin' ye want tae retire?" There was no judgment in Johnny's voice, just curiosity, and Simon didn't blame him. The military was all either of them had ever known; retirement had never been in the cards for them. They lived 141, and they'd always expected to die 141, too.

"I'm saying that I'd follow you wherever you wanted to go, Johnny."

"It's a hell of an idea," Johnny said with a chuckle, nestling even further back against Simon's chest and laying his head back to rest on his shoulder. He finally released Simon's hand and Simon immediately laid it on Johnny's chest, right over his heart. "The Ghost playin' domestic."

"Here's an even better idea," Simon rumbled in his ear. "Simon MacTavish waking up every morning next to his husband."

"Oh," Johnny breathed, all amusement gone in an instant, and Simon could feel the trembling of his chest as he stuttered an exhale. "Oh, aye, I like that idea."

"Thought you might," Simon murmured. At that moment, his watch, set to local time, beeped softly. "Happy Christmas, Johnny."

Johnny sat up slightly, turning in Simon's arms to catch his gaze, and Simon brought a hand up to give him a place to rest his head, cradling the side of his face in his palm. He ran his thumb in a sweeping arc, pressing into the divot of Johnny's temple, feeling the smooth scar tissue against his calloused fingertip.

He'd almost lost him, that day in the tunnel; if Makarov's aim had been any better, Simon would've been spreading Johnny's ashes instead of making a bedside confession in the hospital. Every time he caught a glimpse of the starburst scar, he thought of Polaris and thanked whatever higher power that bothered to listen for giving them a second chance. He didn't intend to waste it.

"Happy Christmas, Simon," Johnny said with a sad smile that Simon hated; he'd pluck all of the stars out of the sky to keep Johnny from ever looking like that. "I'm sorry we couldn't spend it at my family's."

"Johnny," Simon breathed, hand still cupping Johnny's face. "I don't care about one holiday when I know we'll spend a hundred more together. When I know that we'll be able to invite your family over to ours one day to celebrate. You're it for me, love. I'm not sayin' we have to retire tomorrow, but… If it came down to you or the job, The Ghost would disappear in a heartbeat. You brought Simon Riley back to life, sweet'eart, and I'll spend the rest of it loving you."

For a long moment, Johnny gaped at him, his mouth opening and closing noiselessly as he struggled to form a response. Simon let him process, using the time to get lost in his eyes; the endless, glacial blue that had become the brightest star in his sky, his North Star, his guiding light. They were filled with unshed tears and unwavering love, and he would never understand what he'd done in his life to deserve such devotion, but he'd spend every day of his life trying to prove himself worthy of it.

"Yer no' proposin' to me right now, are ye?" Johnny finally asked, and it was obvious that he was trying to keep his voice light, joking to ease the suffocating sincerity, but his accent was thick with emotion.

"Hm," Simon hummed with a smile, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he pretended to think it over before tilting his head decisively. "Not yet. Trust me, John MacTavish, when I propose to you, you'll know it."

"I dinnae ken how you'll top tha' little speech," Johnny chuckled wetly, still sounding breathless, and Simon was helpless to do anything but kiss him.

It was innocent, relatively speaking, their lips staying closed even as Simon leaned back against the angled roof, tugging Johnny to follow him down. He let himself be consumed by the feeling of Johnny's lips on his, soft and plush and slightly chapped. He'd never get used to his partner's easy adoration, the way one of his hands found its way to Simon's cheek, then up into his hair, not tugging, just… Holding. Holding them close. His other hand was braced against the rough shingles, holding him up so he didn't smash their skulls together.

It would be so easy to turn it into something more, just a brush of Simon's free hand down Johnny's flank, a peek of tongue against his lips, a thigh raised to wrap around Johnny's hips. But neither of them pushed, content to bask in the moment, the easy intimacy of being together, being alive.

They did, however, need to breathe, so Johnny pulled away an indeterminate amount of time later, but he didn't go far. He hovered above Simon as they caught their breath, panting each other's air.

"I'll find a way," Simon rasped, not missing the way Johnny shivered at the husk in his voice just from kissing.

"What?" Johnny asked, and god, he didn't sound much better. Simon at least suppressed the chills that ran down his spine better than Johnny had.

"I'll find a way to top that speech," he whispered, reminding his boyfriend what they'd been talking about before making out like teenagers hiding from their parents. As close as they were, he saw the joke light in Johnny's eyes, taking a breath between smirking lips—

"Don't," Simon said, eliciting a yelp of outrage.

"Ye dinnae even ken what I was gonnae say!"

"Yes, I do," Simon said, but he couldn't hide his grin, especially when Johnny collapsed against him in a fit of giggles, forcing the breath from his lungs with a whoosh. "You're too predictable, Johnny. Saw it comin' a mile away- Don't!"

Simon didn't know how long they laughed, each lull sparking another bout of giggles. They clutched each other to keep from falling off the roof as much as they did for warmth, and he couldn't remember ever feeling happier. It was a strange thought to have in the middle of the woods, stuck until Price could find a clearing big enough for Nik to land, clinging to the roof of a safe house on the side of a random mountain halfway around the world from home, but…

Home, for Simon, wasn't a building. It wasn't Manchester or Credenhill. It wasn't his bunk on base or his shitty, off-base flat that only saw his presence when Price forced him on leave. Home wasn't a place.

Home was in his arms, huffing laughter against the side of his neck, stupid mohawk tickling his jaw, a bundle of blazing heat across his chest. His North Star, his true north, his guiding light. Home was wherever Johnny was; a fixed point in Simon's life, the center of his sky. He'd follow Johnny anywhere, called to his brightness, his stubborn persistence, and he knew that he'd never get lost as long as he could find Polaris; it would lead him home.

----

Read it here on AO3!

[spearxwind]

Some of those dragons in your recent drawing don’t have any other posts in their tags, could you introduce a few if it’s not spoilery?

Yeah absolutely!! I'll talk about all of them >:)

Alex and C, you know em, both of em dragon arena gladiators that eventually fight to escape the crushingly oppressive conditions they found themselves in.

These planes are manned by Soleil (left), who flies an SU-30, and Gala + Reina (right) on an AWACS plane based on the saab Globaleye. Gala is a Human and Reina is a little dragon, either of them can pilot or handle the IFF system interchangeably, though usually Gala is the one who pilots.

Octane, you know him too, reventant died-but-not-really guy, a jetwing of considerable speed. He's a rly nice chill guy even if dying-but-not-really has made him exponentially more unhinged. Infamous in illegal racing. Used to be a part of Lexios' squadron. And on the right, his brother Jarek, infamous for other things. He's a bounty hunter who specializes in other dragons. Has little care for who hires him as long as he's getting paid.

Arcturus is one of the fastest dragons out there, and they are the interceptor for Lexios' squad. A whimsical guy, they just like to Go Really Fast but got roped into service along with Octane bc of their abilities.

Voltaire is the support attacker of the squad. He's a gruff older dragon with a lot of flight experience and a nasty EMP attack.

Lexios, my beloved, absolute showstopper whenever she appears. She's a jetwing based on the XB-70 Valkyrie, with a little bit from the B-52 Stratofortress. She's MEAN AS FUCK, completely unhinged, and super powerful to boot. She's the squad leader, and her squad is the preferred attack hammer of the Dragon Choir. Very probably a war criminal (god forbid women do anything).

Kelan here is the dragon prince of the region, but he genuinely doesnt care about it. He would much rather be flying around the cast and having fun with his friends than to sit at the council and think about war. His father's death left the Council pretty headless and Kelan's attitude and demeanor makes him disliked among them but deeply beloved by his people.

Razor is a one-winged dragon from the cliffsides and part of the raider force in the highlands where the story takes place. He lost one of his wings in the past, though he was never able to fly with them anyways. Outside of canon, Razor is one of my oldest dragon ocs and I wanted to breathe new life into him putting him in this world :) Also, he has a really thick australian accent. This fact is very important.

Rivier is a desert dragon that has also found herself in the highlands through Circumstances(tm). She's also part of the raider force, and has a human rider called Jem who she goes on missions with. She and Razor aren't related by blood but they have grown up together and consider each other siblings.

[talonabraxas]

Types of Starseed

There are a great many different types of starseed, but some of the most commonly-identified include:

Pleiadian

Originating from the Pleiades star cluster, Pleiadian starseeds are loving, intuitive, empathetic, creative, and sensitive individuals who have a mission to bring peace and spirituality to Earth. They are some of the oldest souls, and are among the more common starseed types. They are therefore also one of the best understood. Pleiadian starseeds have a special connection to the Divine Feminine and Akashic records.

Sirian

Originating from Sirius, one of the most important stars to play a role in spiritual awakening, Sirian starseeds are peacekeepers and guardians: bold, strong-willed, and passionate beings with a strong sense of responsibility and leadership. They often exhibit a focus on technology, innovation, and spiritual teaching.

Orion

Hailing from the Orion constellation, Orion starseeds are said to be insightful, analytical, and committed to justice and wisdom. They are attuned to ancient wisdom, which often manifests as an entrepreneurial or scientific spirit! Orion starseeds work to overcome challenges, and are therefore seen as “warriors for the light”.

Andromedan

Coming from the Andromeda galaxy (often thought to be home to various extraterrestrial civilisations), Andromedan starseeds are said to be wise beyond their years and have a strong sense of justice. They are creative and innovative, and tend to have a strong calling to bring new ideas and technologies to Earth.

Lyran

Originating from the Lyra constellation, Lyran starseeds are said to be the oldest souls in the galaxy, and are creative and excellent communicators. Sometimes depicted as being the ancestors of humans, Lyrans may have a stronger than usual connection to the Earth (especially to Egypt: one of their closest links to home) and a desire to heal and uplift. Lyran starseeds have a special connection to the Divine Masculine.

Arcturian

All the way from Arcturus (said to be home to highly evolved and spiritually advanced beings from a 5th dimension), Arcturian starseeds possess profound and innovative qualities of wisdom and healing, and a strong desire to help others awaken spiritually. They often feel more comfortable in their human forms than other starseeds.

Venusian

As you’d expect, Venusian starseeds are from Venus, and are compassionate, loving, gentle, and artistic. They have a great interest in the ancient civilisations of Earth, as well as outer space. The ancient Egyptian goddess of love and motherhood, Hathor, is thought to have come from Venus in the fourth dimension.

Lemurian

Ancient souls originating from Lemuria, Lemurian starseeds (and Atlantean starseeds) are believed to have made Earth their home sooner than any other type. They are said to be healers and teachers, and keepers of ancient wisdom. Although the defunct civilisation of Lemuria was on Earth (before its downfall at the hands of dark reptilians), its people were advanced enough to communicate with and travel to other planets.

Atlantean

Ancient souls from Atlantis, Atlantean starseeds are truth seekers and are technologically adept. Like Lemurian starseeds, Atlanteans starseeds no longer have a physical territory on Earth, as their ancestors abused their success until they were destroyed. However, those who survived their realm’s downfall had often travelled to other planets or dimensions, so can return to Earth as starseeds.

Indigo Children

Younger souls that are here to lead others into a new age, Indigo Children are independent, strong-willed, and disruptive to outdated systems. They are agents of peace and justice, and have no tolerance for evil. Indigo Children are often born with memories of their divine gifts, qualities, and mission intact, and come from a spiritual dimension of Earth that hasn’t yet finished ascending.

Illustration of a girl sitting in the middle of a large glade of magical flowers looking into infinity.

Crystal Children

Often grouped with Indigo Children, Crystal Children share the former’s mission to usher humanity into a better future. They are natural healers and lovers of nature, and have a strong connection with Pleiadian energy. Crystal Children bring joy, light, and harmony to all that they touch.

Rainbow Children

The third of the starseed types to often be grouped with Indigo Children, Rainbow Children are the youngest souls of all, and are still working to understand their role. Although their awareness of their nature can make them seem a little detached, they excel as healers and teachers, and rarely fall victim to illnesses or health issues.

Lightworkers

A unique type of starseed, Lightworkers aren’t tied to any specific planet, realm or celestial body, and are instead defined by their mission to spread light, love, kindness, and goodness. Their goal is to encourage spiritual evolution, and to help the Earth (and other worlds) to tap into higher frequency information and rise in consciousness.

Mintaken

Hailing from the planet Mintaka that once lay within Orion’s belt, Minkaten starseeds are among the original lightworkers. They’re fascinated by astrology and crystals, and are gifted with extraordinarily strong intuition. Because Mintaken no longer exists, Mintaken starseeds can feel intensely homesick, but often find solace around water.

Feline

Feline starseeds also originate within the Lyran constellation, and can be glimpsed within the cat-like artwork of some ancient civilisations. Feline starseeds are detached from the physical and in tune with the spiritual. They exist in a higher dimension to humans, and often have telepathic or psychic abilities.

Maldek

Just as Lemurian and Atlantean starseeds survived the downfall of their realms on Earth, finding refuge among the stars, Maldek starseeds survived their planet’s destruction. Maldek was a planet in our Solar System that died as a consequence of misusing technological power, and greed. On Earth, Maldek starseeds try to teach humans how to better use technology and other tools to avoid a robotic apocalypse.

Avian

Avian starseeds come from a purely spiritual realm, and journey to Earth to teach humans about metaphysics and spiritual truths. In essence, they serve as spirit guides, showing how a more spiritual life can lead to an advanced civilisation. As their name suggests, Avian starseeds often have bird-like qualities.

Martian

Martian starseeds come from the planet Mars, and seek to connect with the human race and assist with its advancement. The call of Martian starseeds might be why Earth astronomers have always felt a strong pull to Mars. The appearance of Martian starseeds is a mystery, although they tend to feel a connection with water and fire.

Polarian

Among the first spiritual beings to travel from a higher dimension and incarnate in human bodies, Polarian starseeds come from the North Star, Polaris. They are highly empathetic, and are able to feel the Earth’s energies at a very deep level. As a result, they are able to serve as mediators between humans and planet Earth.

Hadarian

Fleeing from Beta Centauri to escape slavery, some Hadarian starseeds settled on Earth and seek to build strong and happy relationships. Shy and introverted, their loving natures can make them susceptible to manipulation, but their past and present struggles can’t dampen their enthusiasm to spread unconditional love.

Reptilian

Shape-shifting, lizard-like starseeds of unknown origins who try to crush humanity’s spiritual enlightenment, Reptilian starseeds rarely have a positive goal. They desire control over humans for their own benefit, and plunge those who they influence into greed and selfishness. They played a part in the destruction of Lemuria and other realms, and are opposed by many of the other starseed types.

Draconian

A type of Reptilian starseed from the constellation Draco, Draconian starseeds seek to unite many people to a common goal, although whether this mission is for good or evil depends on the starseed. Some can be greedy and manipulative leaders, but others are diligent workers who guide awakened humans to accomplish just causes.

Agarthian Beings

Rather than originating offworld, Agarthian Beings actually come from a faery realm within Earth itself, and are therefore deeply connected to the planet. They actively protect the environment, and remember even forgotten Earthly catastrophes like the sinking of Atlantis.

An Introduction to Starseeds:

[crossroads-of-the-raven]

Just a Little Something I Noticed - With Fire at His Right and Ice to His Left - Ninjago

...

The above image is from Zane's vision from the beginning of Season 1 episode 4 - Never Trust a Snake

...

The above image is from the Nindroid rocket towards the end of Season 3 episode 6 - Codename: Arcturus

...

In the scene from the first picture, Strength of the Earth and the Nunchucks of Lightning were actively used in battle while the final image Zane sees of the Green Ninja, before his dream wakes him up, is the first image shown - Fire at Lloyd's right hand, The Falcon (which represents Zane/Ice) at Lloyd's left hand.

In the scene from the second picture, Lloyd made the decision to sneak aboard the rocket so as to be able to keep the Overlord from getting the Golden Weapons. Kai and Zane immediately follow after Lloyd and boards the rocket. Cole and Jay on the other hand immediately reject Lloyd's idea and call it crazy. Lloyd ends up having to convince them and remind the two of their group promises to stay together in order to get them to climb aboard the rocket. While Lloyd is trying to get Cole and Jay to join the mission, Kai and Zane stand patiently behind Lloyd, their placement putting Kai at Lloyd's right hand and Zane at Lloyd's left hand.

[sleepytwilight]

hii sleepy :D could you write about a sort of like knight summoner from medieval times who thinks the boys are a prince and are bound to them to protect them? idk it came into my brain and i thought it'd be neat :D

Ohh!!! I like this ask!

𝓐𝓻𝓬𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓾𝓼

When you first summoned him, you really didn't know what happened. You thought he's some kind of magic prince because he suddenly appeared in front of you.

Anyway, Arcturus realize the monster were harassing you and was about to help you until you killed the monster by yourself.

He was surprised and when you bowed to him, he was even more surprised.

You said you'll protect him since he's a prince

He has no idea what's going on and he don't know how you can carry him up like a princess.

Okay but he actually enjoy this kind of treatment.

Okay but you need to stop protecting him every second you feels like he's in danger, he also want to protect you too.

You both ended up protecting each other, how cute.

𝓢𝓹𝓲𝓬𝓪

Spica thought you were a barbarian for a second until you told him that you're a knight from mid eartheim.

You and Spica didn't get along that well until you know Spica unhealthy sleeping schedule.

Since then you've been by his side, making sure he gets his 8 hours of sleep, eat well, throw away all the coffee-

Spica really don't really like this behavior of yours, it going on like this until one day on a mission, monsters suddenly attack you and him.

Surprisedly you defeat all the monsters because Spica don't have any energy left, he admit it he has been too harsh on you.

He became a bit softer and finally got a good sleeping schedule.

He don't have to know the fact you threatened the students to not make any troubles

𝓟𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓾𝔁

Pollux is the cutest prince ever, just admit it.

When you first saw him, you immediately go into protective mode.

Pollux in his tsundere self said he don't enjoy the fact you're protecting him (he actually likes it a lot.)

He taught you how to use gun since you can't carry the heavy sword around the academy.

Maybe teaching you how to use gun is a bad idea.

He enjoys when you addressed him "Your highness/my prince" he blushing madly fr.

He scared what will you think about him not being the real Pollux but you still want to serve him as his knight.

God how much he cried, he is happy that you didn't change your view on him.

𝓐𝓵𝓹𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓽𝔃

Why do you want to protect a big strong prince like him? Alpheratz literally asking himself why.

He actually enjoy your company, rather than a knight, you're like a friend who look out for him.

You both have sense of who to protect, both worried about Arcturus and Pollux.

It feels like a one sided friendship, your purpose is to protect your prince. He can't really change your mind can he?

When both of you found out they you two reincarnated lovers, it feels like a new world to Alpheratz.

Now he's protecting you, nothing in the world belong to him but he want to protect his beloved.

If you're a knight then he's a prince, can he ask you to be his beloved once again?

𝓢𝓲𝓻𝓲𝓾𝓼

Sirius feels awkward when you call him "My Lord" or "Master". It feels out of place, he's the one want to address you like that again.

You were Polaris, his mentor. He's just a little sorcerer who want his mentor to be with him again.

Yet you still protect him, you protected him like how Polaris used to protect him. He feels like he's about to break down everytime you asked him if he's okay.

You really love to make things complicated for him.

He realizes that as long you're here, you can't live a free life. He want you to live a life without the need to protect someone, because if you keep protecting everyone... You'll ended sacrificing yourself once again.

He's a prince that meant to betray his knight. It's all to save you don't you know that?

𝓥𝓮𝓰𝓪

Well there's two knight, it's either him or you protect. It's like a fight but without fighting.

Vega gave a lot of excuses why he should protect you, his winning chance is 50% because you know better.

You guys protecting each other, like so cute- especially in a mission when you are battling the monsters, you both are unstoppable duo.

You call him "pretty prince" just to tease him. He's a guy with pretty face lol.

When you remember him as your childhood friend, you treat him even more gentler. He'll never get use to you carry him around because you used to carry him when you both were kids.

At last, you both need to separate huh? Vega made an oath before you leave this world, he hopes for you to come back and be his knight.

[bone-season-memes]

Arcturus in the safe house waiting for the love of his life to come back from her top secret mission like

[warrenwoodhouse]

War Assets - Mass Effect Guide (Mass Effect) (Lists)

Guide by @warrenwoodhouse #warrenwoodhouse

I’ve listed every single War Asset from all three Mass Effect original trilogy games. These assets will help you win the war against the Reaper invasion.

Mass Effect; Legendary Edition: Mass Effect

Complete all Story Missions

Complete all Side Missions

Complete all Personnel Missions

Complete all Misc Missions

Complete all DLC Missions

Collect all Collectibles

Collect all Resources

Complete the game

Mass Effect 2; Legendary Edition: Mass Effect 2

Resources collected during your Mass Effect 1 campaign will carry over into your Mass Effect 2 campaign

Complete all Story Missions

Complete all Side Missions

Complete all N7 Missions

Complete all Loyalty Missions

Complete all Misc Missions

Complete all DLC Missions

Collect all Collectibles

Collect all Resources

Entire Normandy Crew and Shepard survive the assault on the Collector Base

Mass Effect 3; Legendary Edition: Mass Effect 3

Resources collected during your Mass Effect 1 campaign and Mass Effect 2 campaign will carry over into your Mass Effect 3 campaign

Complete all Story Missions

Complete all Side Missions

Complete all N7 Missions

Complete all Loyalty Missions

Complete all Misc Missions

Complete all DLC Missions

Collect all Collectibles

Collect all Resources

Entire Normandy Crew and Shepard survive the Endgame

Acquired EMS Effective Military Strength of 7800 or above

Good Ending: Choose “Destruction” (red) during the final mission “Priority: Citadel: The Return”

Bad Ending: Military Strength of 2000 or less

Alternative Ending: Choose “Synthesis” (blue) during the final mission “Priority: Citadel: The Return”

ME3 War Assets

Assets and resources collected during your campaigns of Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 will carry over into your Mass Effect 3 campaign

Alien

General Oleg Petrovsky: unlocked after completing Omega DLC

Omega Raiding Fleet: unlocked after completing Omega DLC

Omega Eezo Hoard: unlocked after completing Omega DLC

Leviathan Enthrallment Team: unlocked after completing Leviathan DLC

Liquid Assets: add

Vorcha Labor Team: unlocked after completing Omega DLC

Void Devils Fighter Wing: add

Governor Grothan Pazness: add

Citadel Defense Force: add

Batarian Fleet: add

Hanar and Drell Forces: add

Volus Bombing Fleet: add

Spectre Unit: add

Shadow Broker Wet Squad: add

Elcor Flotilla: add

Shadow Broker Support Team: add

Volus Dreadnought Kwunu: add

Rachni Workers: add

Terminus Fleet: add

Asari

Husk Neural Map: unlocked after completing Leviathan DLC

Asari Engineers

Asari Cruiser Cybaen

Asari Research Ships

Asari Cruiser Nefrane

Serrice Guard

Armali Sniper Unit

Dr. Jelize

Samara: Needs to survive the final mission in Mass Effect 2

Asari Commandos

The Destiny Ascension: Needs to survive during the mission “Priority: Citadel > Save the Council” in Mass Effect 1

Asari Sixth Fleet

Asari Second Fleet

Asari Science Team

Alliance

Dr. Ann Bryson: unlocked after completing Leviathan DLC

Synthdiamond Heat Sinks: add

Eden Prime Support: unlocked during the mission “Priority: Eden Prime” via From Ashes DLC

Zhu’s Hope Colonists: After saving the colonists during the mission “Priority: Feros” in Mass Effect 1

Mineral Resources: Collected from Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2

Alliance Frigate Normandy SR-2: unlocked after completing the mission “Priority: Earth”

Diana Allers

Zaeed Massani: Needs to survive the final mission in Mass Effect 2

Kasumi Goto: Needs to survive the final mission in Mass Effect 2

Alliance Fifth Fleet

Rogue Fighter Pilots

Alliance Sixth Fleet

Communications Arrays

Alliance Naval Exploration Flotilla

Alliance Cruiser Shanghai

Alliance Spec Ops Team Delta

Arcturus First Division

Jack: Needs to survive the final mission in Mass Effect 2

Kahlee Sanders

Alliance Third Fleet

Alliance First Fleet

103rd Marine Division

Alliance Engineering Corps

Crucible

Radiation Shielding Sheath

Jovian Dissertation

Dark Energy Dissertation: Complete the “Conrad Verner” storyline from Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 3

Optimized Eezo Capacitors

Haptic Optics Array

Advanced Power Relays

Emergency Fuel Pods

Element Zero Converter

Terminus Freighters

Shadow Broker Starship Tech

Prothean Data Files

ExoGeni Scientists: Save them during the mission “Priority: Feros” in Mass Effect 1

Interferometric Array

Volus Engineering Team

Volus Fabrication Units

Javelin Missile Launchers

Advanced Starship Fuel

Ex-Cerberus

Miranda Lawson: Needs to survive the final mission in Mass Effect 2

Jacob Taylor: Needs to survive the final mission in Mass Effect 2

Dr. Gavin Archer: Survived in the mission “Cerberus Project: Overlord” in Mass Effect 2: Overlord DLC

Dr. Brynn Cole

Ex-Cerberus Scientists

Advanced Fighter Squadron

Cerberus Research Data

Krogan

Krogan Mercenaries

Clan Urdnot: Cure the Genophage during the mission “Priority: Tuchanka” after completing the missions “Tuchanka: Bomb” and “Tuchanka: Cerberus Base”

Krogan Clans

Krogan First Division

Grunt: Needs to survive the final mission in Mass Effect 2

Urdnot Wrex: Needs to be talked down during the mission “Priority: Virmire” in Mass Effect 1

Geth

Geth Corps: Complete the mission “Rannoch: Geth Fighter Squadrons”

Geth Fleet: Complete the mission “Rannoch: Geth Fighter Squadrons”

Geth Prime Platoon: Complete the mission “Rannoch: Geth Fighter Squadrons”

Salarian

Major Kirrahe: Needs to survive during the mission “Priority: Virmire” in Mass Effect 1

Salarian Third Fleet

Turian

Dextro Rations

Turian Spec Ops Team

Turian Engineering Corps

Turian Blackwatch

Turian Seventh Fleet

Turian 43rd Marine Division

Turian Sixth Fleet

Turian 79th Flotilla

Quarian

Admiral Zaal’Koris

Quarian Civilian Fleet

Quarian Heavy Fleet

Quarian Patrol Fleet

Changelog

29th April 2024 at 7:22 am: Added the section titled “Changelog”

30th July 2023 at 6:00 am: Moved post to my Tumblr blog from my Fandom Wiki

17th November 2022 at 11:00 am: Created post

[typewritingyip]

I swear to god I am so ready for one of the guys from the Arcturus Mission to lose their temper if one more bot tries to convince them to "think about the future and the life you could enjoy!" And just. Going off like "There IS no future! It's not just about piloting being dangerous, it's that being a pilot is not conducive to LIFE! They've taken out, replaced, and added so many things to us that it is not sustainable! Even if we stopped fighting right now, we would never live to be old! Either or bodies give out from the strain or the mods malfunction and kill us!" I don't know why I felt like sharing this dramatic rant i pictured somebody having. But I thought maybe it'd be enjoyable. I am seriously eating up all the misconceptions the cybertronian's have about the humans. And it just keeps getting worse! Like the humans have already come out and pretty much admitted to being heavily modified. But I can't forgot the scene of Hound admitting to Knockout that he can't read expressions from visors very well either. And maybe that's just how their species is, having different ways of conveying emotions to each other. Except the humans seem pretty well versed in understanding facial expressions, have likely used words specific to describing facial expressions. To the point it might be logical to conclude that humans normally have faces. And yet none of the pilots do. Sorry this started out as me just sharing the dramatic rant I'd imagined, and then I just started sharing more thoughts. Um... Enjoy???

I have to let everyone see this.

I feel like you’re inside my head, this is incredible. Believe me, with irritability being a symptom of overuse that blow up moment is coming. Cause all these guys figured they wouldn’t live very long, they all thought Jazz was dead and now these thousands of year old mechs keep talking about their long lives? It would piss off a totally calm person.

And yeah, I definitely feel like someone would/could be piecing that together for the visors v faces thing. At some point, one of them is just going to erupt on how horrible the compatibility testing is and how much it changed them mentally and physically.

[typewritingyip]

Oh my god they’re here!!!! I could actually cry, they are so beautiful and absolutely wonderful.

Thank you so much @cosmique-oddity , Cosmos, you are an incredible artist that has had me on the verge of tears with these designs.

I can’t wait to keep writing about the Arcturus Crew.

Thank you @keferon for the amazing AU that has inspired so many of us.

Arcturus One : Designs

Heheheh

This extremely INCREDIBLE FIC can be found here

AU belong to @keferon

Additional characters ideas and Fanfic (Masterpiece) plus all of it additional lore were made up by @typewritingyip

I wanted to bring something to this incredible piece of work, and I write really bad, so I thought I might draw the pilot gang of Arcturus I,

No i didn’t just tought …….it …..IT ASPIRED MY BRAIN BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH I LOVED THE CHARACTERS HAHAHAAH

So anyway, have these references sheet made with all of my love (never drew mecha that weren’t TF coded before that LMAO hyper faction does that to a MF)

Sheets based of Keferon’s one, must keep it professional/j

Have another drawing of the gang without helms !

Short King Hound live in my mind !

(He is actually not that small, the others are just giant !)

Thank you again for this inspirying work, yip !

Cosmos ✌️

[pomegranateboba]

ArTw Incorrect quotes (23)

Arcturus: Summoner! I heard you were having a headache and couldn't go for the mission tod- what are you doing?

Summoner, sitting on their desk: I'm doing my essay.

Arcturus: I see. Well, I hope you feel better, and finish your essay.

Spica, walking in: Summoner why did I just get a call from one of your teachers that you haven't done the essay from 3 weeks ago?

Summoner: Um.

[artdagz]

I'm cooking something up, but I'm only going to release it once I've got it all done.

Have a sneak peak, so I won't back out of this, cause I have a tendency for having lots of WIPs rotting in my files:

Anyways, Prowl and Sunstreaker going on a recon mission together cause Jazz got sick after being on a long mission before and Sunstreaker was the only other human mech that was free at that point.

What was supposed to be only reconnaissance ended up more than they bargained for.

…….

Prowl pressed closed to the solid rock behind him as skittering legs passed by him, locking all his joints and vents to stay silent.

From where he stood he could just see the hull of the human, hidden in a crevice on the opposite side of a path, through some alien vegetation.

The human wasn’t inside, though, he was on some big plant he had referred to as a tree earlier. Sunstreaker was about optics level for prowl and luckily twice as high up as the scouts head that was passing him this very moment.

[hungry-hungry-reader]

Hi pookie wookie my beloved, I would like to become Moon Anon (iykyk).

May I request for Septem+Rafael x Arcturus? Just...what they think about canon TEAG Arct (the scholar, yeah)

MWAHHH I LOVE YOU AND YOUR ART

🌙

Arcturus is 🌙 Anon's OC. Join the discord server to learn more ;)

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

Septem 

Septem cannot stand how much Arcturus’s presence affects him.

He is supposed to be this high and mighty, only-second-to-the-creator Symbol. He should not be feeling overwhelmed by the presence of a human, even one from a higher plane.

Yet, he needs to put actual effort into remaining calm and collected. He HATES it.

But Septem also NEEDS Arcturus’s presence. He is the key to fixing the garden, and his composure be damned, Septem will see to it that the garden is restored.

Despite that, Septem does his best to get closer to Arcturus. He doesn’t delude or lie to him, no. He says it outright that he NEEDS Arct to save his world.

Okay, maybe he does hide the fact that Septem wants to use Arcturus’s influence to gain more power and control for himself.

But that’s to save his world from dying! It’s a noble mission with a tiny perk of gaining more power.

Septem is a benevolent Symbol.

Most of the time.

Rafael

Rafael hopes that Arcturus can help him. Truly

He isn’t too fond of the fact that Arcturus also possesses a puppet, but he can see the earnest attempt at preserving the puppet’s health.

And beggars can’t be choosers. At least, not when you’re begging to be rid of a Symbol possession.

Because that is Rafael’s predicament; he is possessed by Septem, plain and simple.

We don’t have confirmation of whether or not Rafael can perceive what is happening when Septem is at the helm of his body, but I will assume that he does.

Because I am an asshole.

Rafael is scheming how he can use Arct’s effects on Septem before the two of them are even formally introduced. He sees how much Arcturus’s presence affects the Symbol.

Surely, he can use it against him to get a leg up, and maybe his freedom.

I will say, Rafael isn’t happy about the fact that it’s all just a school project for Arcturus.

It’s almost demeaning. Rafael was already stripped of his autonomy. And now he’s studied like an animal in a zoo.

Fate is a cruel mistress. Especially to Rafael.