#ventilator modes

[two-wizards-in-a-trench-coat]

why is the morning tram always so fucking stinky rrraaarrrgh

[andromeda-flipss]

i had originally blocked her bc i knew that there’d be a day that i’d feel lonely and none of my partners would be online and i might hit on her, so thats why i blocked her. then, i unblocked her and dagger said “either keep me blocked or dont interact” for no fucking reason

so am i happy we mutually blocked one another? yes

and also before you say a fucking word, i am only vaugeposting out of pettiness, comsidering she started it (i sound like a fucking four year old rn wtf is wrong with me)

[ilovolderman]

You Said What?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Summary: You accidentaly call Bucky babe during a mission briefing in front of the whole team.

Word Count: 506

Warnings: humor, fluff, secret dating

A/N: This is a short story that came to my mind while I was studying, so I had to write it down. Hope you like it :)

Everyone’s crowded around the mission table. It’s too early, someone definitely stole your last coffee, and you're still rubbing sleep out of your eyes when Steve starts explaining the recon plan with way too many acronyms.

Bucky’s next to you, legs slightly touching, flipping a pen between his fingers like he’s not just waiting for a reason to pull your chair closer. He’s staring straight ahead like a good soldier, but you catch him glancing at you from the corner of his eye every time your knee bounces.

You're trying to pay attention. Something about rooftops, safehouses, surveillance drones and you’re barely following when—

“…and Barnes, you’ll be on overwatch with Y/N.”

And you, running on 2 hours of sleep and one granola bar, lean toward Bucky without thinking.

“Did you hear that, babe?”

Silence.

Cold. Dead. Silence.

Everyone looks at you.

Nat squints. Sam raises both eyebrows so high they disappear into his hairline. Peter drops his pen. Steve, bless his heart, blinks like someone just smacked him with a frisbee.

Bucky doesn’t breathe. Your soul detaches from your body, floats toward the ceiling, and screams.

You scramble. “I—I said bro. Like, ‘Did you hear that, bro?’ That’s what I said. Like a…cool, soldier-y nickname. Haha.”

The room is quiet again. No one believes you. Especially not Sam.  “You said babe. You said it casually.”

Bucky doesn’t even look at you. He’s locked in full Winter Soldier mode, eyes fixed on a random spot on the wall like he’s trying to transcend to another timeline.

“I think she said brrr,” Bucky offers, stone-faced. “She’s cold.”

“She’s wearing a hoodie,” Peter mutters.

You laugh way too loud. “It’s the energy in here. Very chilly.”

Bucky leans back in his chair, arms crossed, staring straight ahead like if he makes direct eye contact with anyone he’ll combust.

Steve slowly turns to him. “Barnes?”

“…Yeah?”

“You cold too?”

Bucky shrugs. “Freezing.”

You know he’s going to murder you in the hallway. Probably kiss you breathless after. But first—death.

Steve stares a moment longer. Then—mercifully—moves on. But the damage is done.

Nat doesn’t. “So… bro, huh?”

You glare at her.

Later, when the meeting is already over, you burst in Bucky's room, already talking. “I told you this would happen, I told you I’d forget—”

Bucky slams the door shut and corners you. “You said babe. In front of Rogers.”

You bury your face in your hands. “I wanna crawl inside a ventilation shaft and disappear.”

He chuckles—actually chuckles—and pulls your hands away.

“Wanna know a secret?” he murmurs, leaning in.

“…What?”

“I liked it.”

You blink up at him. “You liked almost being exposed?”

“No,” he says, brushing his nose against yours. “I liked hearing you call me babe.”

Your heart stutters.

“…Say it again.”

You grin. “Babe?”

Then he kisses you like the whole building isn’t even real. Like the only thing in the universe is your mouth and his hands and the way you said it without even realizing.

A/N: i just wrote a lil part 2 about them, it’s not a direct sequel but if you feel like cheking out, here it is. hope you like it, and thanks for reading <3

[pleaktale]

Bleaky!! I'm just a girl asking for a request for our man Ekko where in episode 3 of s2 he brought you with heimerdinger and he's trying to protect you from the hexcore 'exploding' please and thank you!! 🥺👉👈 Muah 😘 take your time!!

-katy ❤️

it took a life of it's own but after I figured out the plot it went smoooooth 🤭 I'm sorry for the long wait though! I hope it's worth it Word count: 2k Warnings: death mention, swearing, time travel (?) Tags: Ekko x firelight!Reader, mention of Y/N, no description of Reader other than hair, CW alternate universes, CW death, gender neutral Reader, CW time travel (kinda), hurt/comfort Enjoy!

Maybe coming along wasn’t the best idea.

It’s what you think about when Jayce guides the group towards the hexgate core, a big room with glass floors and lights shining everywhere, a giant ball with runes and lights and intricate patterns standing in the middle of the room. It felt like you should be afraid of it, but you put on your brave mask.

Ekko insisted you should come along, saying you were his ‘right-hand’ and ‘his engineer partner’, Heimerdinger didn’t have much of a choice and brought you with them to the lab of Piltover.

At least it was a fun adventure to get there, with Heimer thinking you guys were in a secret spy mission of sorts, doing hand signs created on the spot and rolling over ducts. You and Ekko couldn’t help but chuckle at the scenes unfolding.

Once in the lab, and with Heimerdinger making the presentations, you remember to hold in a laugh at Ekko trying to appear taller when talking to Jayce, even though he was a good amount shorter than him. Nonetheless, he was still your short king. He just wouldn’t know.

Now in front of this… thing, both you and Ekko exchange glances, you could see the worry in his eyes that quickly were replaced with determination as he tugged you by the sleeve of your shirt to tag along. Closer, in preference.

“I thought this was underground,” Ekko noticed, looking around before landing eyes on Jayce. His tone started to grow stern.

“The mesh is, this is just a fell safe as we were not sure what would happen if the gates overloaded,” he explained, making you scoff at this brilliant idea.

“So it would explode on us?” You ask back, eyebrows furrowed together as, once again, Piltover proves to not care about Zaun’s safety. At all. “Pretty wise for a scholar genius.”

“These are far from the city, it wouldn’t explode on anyone,” Jayce is immediately on defensive mode, even though, deep down, he knows this wasn’t made thinking about the others. Ekko walked closer, also getting defensive at his tone at you.

“These are our utility ducts! The ones that carry our water and guide our ventilation,” this time, Ekko was the one to confront him, taking a few steps closer.

Ekko continued with his arguments, but a shift in light caught your attention, turning around to see Heimerdinger looking at something on the ground, you also took a step closer to see what he was doing.

“Heimer? What is that?” you asked, and as the professor touched it again, something clicked.

Everything turned white, there were no floors nor walls, just a completely blank space of nothing. Well, nothing except for a massive sphere of something you couldn’t quite pinpoint. But it had the same patterns as the leaves of the tree.

“A… wild rune?” you ask, walking a little closer in awe, just to be held back by Ekko, his gloved hand keeping you from going further close.

Meanwhile, Jayce was right in front of it, almost completely mesmerized by it. Everyone in the room was, in a way, even Heimerdinger who also got close, but Ekko didn’t keep him from walking.

“Ekko…” you called, taking him out of some kind of trance as he shook his head lightly, looking back at you, his eyes wide and with slight confusion. “It’s alright,” he reassured you, or tried to, staring back at Jayce who seemed to be approaching even more the sphere.

“Jayce!” Ekko shouted, trying to get him to stop going further into touching that warping thing of organic patterns and fluid geometries, but his voice sounded like it was below water. He heard himself like some twisted and warped sound.

You feel a tingle in your spine, taking a few steps back as the sphere started to lash parts of itself as Jayce got closer, your hand reached for Ekko, but it felt like you were a ghost, touching on nothing and lacking any physical parts on you.

Panic starts to settle, and you’re frozen in place, Ekko watches as Jayce grabs ahold of his hammer, aiming it for the sphere who twisted and warped and angrily reacted to the environment, tendril-like shapes lashing and gushing out of the sphere.

You heard a faint sound that was twisted and too dense for your ears to fully comprehend, but you made out as Ekko trying to stop him.

Then the hammer went full force on it.

Jayce’s skin warped and twisted, creating shapes and geometries around him, something weirdly two dimensional, like a thin piece of paper that follows your eyes. You look back, a line of copies of you, endlessly repeating, constantly copying your every action. Like time ripples out of place and creates thousands and thousands of versions of the same moment in splashes of color and shapes.

A mismatched sound fills your ears, something familiar yet strange, you look back ahead, Ekko is staring at you with desperation in his eyes. You see Heimerdinger exploding in a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes, something akin to oil amidst water, his eyes multiplying, following the lines.

You feel out of breath, screaming for Ekko but your voice comes out like some reversed echo, warped in the chaos that’s happening in that room. You can make out a repeated “run” screamed from Ekko, who is also trying to run away from it.

He jumps in your direction, copies of him flashing around your eyes, he’s close yet far, you can’t make out the distance in this weird time space you’re locked in. You try to reach for him too, your hand doubling into a thousand others, pops of color lashing out of your skin.

Ekko makes it to you, his arms enveloping your form tightly, the first time you’ve felt weight like you’re supposed to, something unearthly heavier than it should. You both fall into some form of flooring, but it still was just a blank space, you try to make the fall easier but your head finds one of the screws in what would be the real world.

And things go from blank to black.

-

Time wraps itself around, twisting and tugging and moving in an all time high, like being tossed into some sort of infinite blender that you’ll never reach the blades. Ekko feels it on his body for a mere second, but it feels like forever.

But then it stills.

“And I…” he stops, hands holding yours, or was it you? You had a different hair, your smile seemed brighter, but still he felt unfamiliarity. He continues without even knowing he was talking.

“I think I love you,” Ekko smiles, eyes squinting from how big it is, his heart feels full, but something on the back of his mind itches. You’re almost tearing up, or was you? With a short nod, you whisper a soft ‘me too’ that almost doesn't reach his ears, your arms circling around him.

He feels full. And then it stills.

“… that day was fun, y’know?” Ekko says, eyes staring down at some flowers in a vase, above a grave. Your grave, your name beautifully displayed with carvings of fireflies and your favorite flower around it. Something’s amiss, but he can’t quite scratch that itch in the back of his mind.

“I miss you,” he whispers, feeling his eyes tear up. It felt weird, he thought he was past it on his grief. Guess not. Feeling his lungs with fresh air, Ekko leaves a shaky breath, smiling to himself despite the pain in his heart.

He feels empty. And then it stills.

“Y/N, do you accept Ekko as your spouse?” Scar says, keeping a small smile after looking towards you. Ekko swears he’d never seen you so beautiful before. Or were you? Is it you?

“I do,” you answer, smiling almost ear to ear, hands clasped together. You feel his hands get a little clammy after your reply.

“Ekko, do you accept Y/N as your spouse?” Scar continues, now looking back at Ekko, who smiles with eyes shiny from the unshed tears. You squint your eyes, waiting for his reply, your heart almost beating out of your chest despite knowing the answer.

“I do,” he replies, “absolutely do,” and then adds. He feels full seeing your smile, the way you’re also almost tearing up, despite the itch on the back of his mind. Ekko just takes you in.

He feels complete. And then it stills.

Over and over and over and over.

“Y/N! Come out! We’ll miss the opening!” Ekko calls, he feels younger, he is younger, he’s still a kid. You’re a kid too. You’re running to him, hair bouncing as you halt almost atop of him. Your hands on his arm, shaking him.

“C’mon! We can’t miss it!” You sound so happy, so full of life. Or were you?

“Stop shaking me and let’s go!” Ekko holds your wrist, running the two of you towards the bridge to watch the opening of the shops. Benzo tried to call you two to wait, but he was a bit late. Benzo. Another itch he can’t scratch.

Time stills once again.

“Hey, don’t run on the stairs!”

Your voice echoes through the tree house, watching closely on your kid. His kid too. Our kid. Ekko smiles to himself, taking his cup of coffee from the pot. “It’s the nerves, firefly, first day of school,” he says to you, sipping on his mug.

“I know! But safety-”

“-always comes first.” He continues your phrase, making you smile in amusement and annoyance. He feels his chest warm up with a chuckle.

“C’mon, loosen up a little, will you?” His arm circles your waist, pulling you closer while his mug with hot coffee is kept far from your body.

The way you roll your eyes and lean on him makes it all worth it. But that damn itch. This weird feeling.

Time doesn’t stop this time, though.

BOOM!

A groan of pain escapes his lips, his arms tightly holding onto you. His body hit something physical for once, the weird feeling was gone, the memories still there.

Despite himself, Ekko just lays there for a moment, half scared of what he’d encounter by opening his eyes. When the courage comes, he slowly shifts, feeling you first, leaning onto his elbows to get himself up. His eyes are greeted by your knocked out form, but you’re still breathing peacefully. Almost like you’re asleep.

“Hey,” he calls quietly, gently shaking you, your eyes fluttering up brings relief to his heart.

You’re still drowsy, a stinging pain on the back of your head. Sitting up, Ekko is still checking up on you, his hand gently touching your elbow. “What happened?” you ask, feeling like you’ve slept for way too long.

“I.. I’m not sure,” he replies, looking around and seeing Heimendinger on the floor and no trace of Jayce. The hexcore was dimmed, with no power coming from it. He turns back at you, seeing you scratch the back of your head.

“Are you okay?” he asks, voice gentle and low. Unlikely so.

“Yeah, I think I just hit my head when that thing.. exploded, I guess.” Sighing, you stop for a moment, sitting up on the floor with him. “Are you?”

Your question pulls him from the memories he’s still drowning himself into. He couldn’t quite tell what that was; alternate universes? Another kind of dream? Whole different dimensions? Daydream? Had he hit his head too? But it felt too real, your touch was too real, the smells were too real, the warmth of the sun on his skin were too real. But that itch on the back of his mind was also too real.

One thing he knew was that you were the constant on his equation. Despite the changes, you were his equivalent.

Taking your hand in his, fingers intertwining. A sigh leaves his lips, eyes briefly closing before looking back up to your own. A smile of relief on his face.

“I am.”

Ekko feels full. And time is back to the right place, with you.

THANK YOU FOR READINGGG <33 ngl I kinda went crazy with this one, writing the wraps of time was fun!!! ALSO THANK YOUUU @the-kr8tor for all the yap sessions about this <3

© pleaktale

[rottenpumpkin13]

all the soldiers plus cloud get stuck on the soldier floor because the elevator breaks how does everyone react

Sephiroth: Calm, cool, collected, the picture of professional composure. Can he do anything about the situation? No. Will freaking out solve anything? Also no. He's sitting cross-legged on the floor, meditating, reaching a state of transcendent peace, all is well. The chaos around him might as well be happening in another dimension.

Sephiroth, after discovering that Professor Hojo is also on the 49th floor: Attempting to use the window as an escape route while Lazard and Angeal hold him back, calculating the probability of surviving a 49-story fall versus spending one more minute in the same vicinity as Hojo.

Angeal: Not worried at all. The 49th level has showers, a kitchen, a fully stocked fridge in the break room and enough rations to survive a small apocalypse. He's treating this literal hostage situation like it's a luxury camping retreat. Has apparently been preparing for this exact scenario his entire career, with his office resembling a doomsday prepper's paradise. There's medical kits, pillows, blankets, emergency flares, three different types of water filtration systems, and what appears to be a small herb garden. Has produced his guitar and is insisting everyone share their feelings around his makeshift "campfire" (a desk lamp turned sideways).

Zack: Full blown freakout. He's mildly claustrophobic and the idea of being stuck anywhere sends him into crisis mode. He's banging on the elevator doors screaming "LET ME OUT!" while trying to pry them open. He's holding up posters to the windows with "S.O.S." written in various sizes and colors. Attempting to flag down pigeons as potential messengers. Keeps trying to send morse code with the office lights to passing helicopters, despite it being broad daylight. Had to be physically restrained from attempting to punch through the elevator doors with his "face first" strategy. He's drafting his will and doing stress-induced squats in the corner, and Angeal has to physically hold him down while another SOLDIER assists him with paper bag breathing. Has already gone through the office's entire supply of paper bags.

Genesis: Freaking out like Zack but with 300% more determination. He is a free man, a SOLDIER of destiny, and no mechanical malfunction shall imprison his spirit. He has maps of the ventilation system complete with annotations and escape routes. He's rounded up a group of Seconds who are either brave or just really bad at saying no. He's going to prison break this bitch with style. Last anyone sees Genesis, he's disappearing into the vents like a determined raccoon in a red leather coat.

Genesis, after falling through a weakened section of the ventilation system and crashing through the ceiling panel: Breaks his wrist.

Cloud: He's not even there anymore. He managed to pry open the door to the stairwell an hour ago and is currently in his bunk in the barracks, chilling.

[emperor-kumquat]

The new alt-modes given to certain Transformers: Mercy characters

In the process of creating TFP versions of characters for my game, sometimes I make unique choices and give them new alt-modes. Or if it was unclear what they transformed into in IDW, I made something up. Here are some examples!

Nightbird: she is of the Corvicon species introduced in RID 2015, an actual bird to fit the name!

Trepan: he is a two-wheeler with a body type very much like Arcee's (boobs included to break gender norms). I wanted him to be very small and prickly.

Rung: he is a three-wheeler, though he isn't too fast. I was inspired by a scooter Rung was on in IDW.

Froid: he is a copter but he can also change his long arms into wings for gliding. Due to his ventilation system disease in Mercy, he refrains from transforming at all unless necessary.

Kaon: he used to be a three-wheeler like Rung, but after experimentation, he now transforms into a power pack with sleeves. He is meant to cling to the backs of bots so he is hard to pry off as he electrocutes them.

Vos: she is not just a gun, but now a six-winged Seeker with a massive laser gun. Yes, a gun that will pursue you!

Helex: Originally a heavy vehicle, but mostly just a furnace after experimentation that sucks up lava to spray at bots.

Tesarus: Once a heavy vehicle, but after experimentation, a heavy vehicle with many chopping blades at its front. You know that scary tractor from Cars that chased McQueen and Mater? That kind of vibe.

(Tarn is still a tank but with a power to kill not related to her voice)

Krok: he is a Croctobot (another RID 2015 concept). In the War he adopted a Seeker body from advanced Decepticon surgery, but then he wished to revert back to his natural body type.

Fulcrum: he is a copter-jet instead of a bomb now. He likes to hover at a distance in bot-form, wear his goggles, and watch the bombs he made go off.

Rewind: he is a torpedo-like Minicon like those from RID 2015. He can also magnetically stick to walls and ceilings and slip around like some kind of black roomba bug.

Browning: he is a tiny, tiny, tiny tank. He isn't a pistol anymore and can roll around on his own, but can only really hurt the zap-mice and retrorats that might attack him.

Devcon: he is secretly a triple-changer. The Seeker mode is obvious, but he is very closeted about his third mode which I have given him. No one could guess it by looking at him!

Vehicons: they start obtaining new alt-modes thanks to Knockout. You will see the extra forms from the TFP video game (copters, tanks, trucks) and also motorcycles, animals, and more! Wolf Vehicon, anybody?

(Yes, I do incorporate many RID 2015 concepts! The show wasn't all bad!)

[covid-safer-hotties]

What would an adequate COVID response look like? - Sept 05, 2024

By: Julia Doubleday

Ok, COVID is a problem. What can we do about it anyway?

The problem is stark: we have unmitigated transmission of a deadly and disabling virus, in all public spaces, with zero plan to bring it under control.

We’re seeing millions of infections in each wave, and multiple waves a year; an unsustainable health burden on an already strained healthcare system.

We’ve got a student absence crisis, record worker sick days, rapidly rising disability, and the expulsion of high-risk people from public spaces.

And unfortunately, we have a public that is largely uneducated about and unaware of the problem, thanks to the tireless efforts of our political leaders and corporate media outlets who pushed for a “new normal” of forever COVID reinfections.

The first hurdle is making people aware of the problem. But beyond that, a second hurdle; often, once the risks of recurrent COVID infections are conveyed, the next objection is: but what can we do about it anyway? Surely you don’t want a permanent forever lockdown?

Well, I don’t. So what, in my wildest dreams, would competent public health bodies be doing to mitigate transmission of COVID, even years into a botched response with millions of people negatively polarized against collective measures?

Start from the top: acknowledge that COVID is airborne. Loudly.

Educate the public about airborne mitigation measures and model them.

On April 30, 2021, the WHO officially acknowledged that SARS-COV-2 is a fully airborne virus. They did so quietly, without fanfare, on their website, without a well-publicized apology for the year they spent loudly claiming otherwise.

The embarrassment of this early mistake- costly and deadly as it was- has doubtless played a role in the subsequent inadequacy of communications around SARS-COV-2’s actual mode of transmission.

Droplet measures like surgical masks and social distancing were inadequate to prevent the transmission of COVID; both can reduce, but not eliminate, risk. Has the public been made aware of this? Have medical practitioners?

Official communications from representatives of the WHO and CDC tend to avoid mention of high-quality respirator masks entirely, if masks are mentioned at all. The importance of ventilation and filtration have never been properly explained to the public, certainly not by our politicians who continue to do nothing but repeat their treasured talking point, “COVID no longer controls our lives” while a thousand Americans lose those very lives to the virus each week.

In public, operatives from public health bodies do not mask, nor speak about airborne disease mitigation. Politicians certainly do not mask, even elected officials who quite clearly fall into high-risk categories, belying their claim that people are simply adopting the libertarian “personal risk assessment” approach to COVID. This refusal to mask, no matter the case numbers, no matter the risk factors, is a political choice designed to encourage the public to accept a lack of airborne disease mitigation. It pushes people to believe the virus is harmless, even as scientific research fails to support this claim, and while the CDC puts out conflicting guidance that large swathes of the public are high-risk.

Refusal to directly communicate 1) how COVID spreads 2) that it can be avoided 3) how it can be avoided while modeling mitigation, makes pandemic communications much more difficult for vulnerable people, activists and marginalized groups attempting to reduce disease burden in their communities. We should not be swimming against the current of public health officials’ poor pandemic hygiene.

Mandate airborne infection control in all healthcare settings

Of course, COVID is an international problem, and it’s critical that measures like indoor clean air and airborne infection control in healthcare are implemented globally. WHO has no legal authority to issue such a mandate; it can do little more than make recommendations. However, those recommendations have power, and as of now, it has failed to make them. Recommendations from WHO often form the basis of directives from regulatory bodies like the CDC.

The decision to claim that SARS-COV-2 was not airborne was politically motivated. There was no data to support this claim, only decades of bad physics in medicine and very strong financial and legal incentives to assume that COVID was not spreading through the air. It all comes down to the cost of rethinking medical care entirely, with an eye to airborne infection control.

I already wrote about the WHO’s recent attempt to both acknowledge COVID’s airborne nature while walking back their early-pandemic claims that, were COVID airborne, of course they would recommend proper airborne infection control measures.

Specifically, WHO Health Operations, Infection Prevention and Control Technical Team wrote in an April 2020 email to a group advocating for airborne precautions:

"Would there be evidence of significant spread of SARS-CoV-2 as an airborne pathogen outside of the context of AGPs [aerosol generating procedures], WHO would immediately revise its guidance and extend the recommendation of airborne precautions accordingly"

Well, COVID is airborne, and they have not immediately revised their guidance.

This continues to cost the lives of hospitalized vulnerable people every day.

It also contributes to public confusion about how COVID transmits, including among healthcare workers. Doctors and nurses are well aware that there is no airborne infection control in medical settings; their personal justifications tend to be either “because COVID must be mild” or “because COVID can’t spread that way.”

This is an understandable psychological response to watching their employers- hospitals and medical facilities- fail to implement measures to control the spread of airborne disease in a hospital. Either COVID must not be spreading that way, or COVID must be no big deal.

Education and mitigation practices coming from the top will speed the process of normalizing disease control and bringing down cases at an institutional level.

Like seeing public health officials masked, seeing doctors and nurses masked in hospitals with well-fitting respirators will also help educate the public about how SARS-COV-2 spreads, and confirm that indeed, COVID is still with us.

While there is no previous legal framework for patients to rely on, what medical institutions are doing is highly immoral if not explicitly illegal. They are failing to even attempt to provide proper infection control in hospitals.

Public health bodies should properly educate medical professionals about airborne infection control and mandate upgrades to hospital infrastructure that accommodate the existence of SARS-COV-2. Set the expectation that healthcare settings will be held responsible for healthcare acquired infections.

Legal and financial consequences for healthcare acquired infections

Currently in the US, many HAIs have to be reported to the CDC; that COVID does not, is a choice based on the reality that they are allowing it to spread freely.

From the CDC website on Healthcare Acquired Infections and the 2022 HAI Progress Report:

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is committed to protecting patients and healthcare personnel from adverse healthcare events and promoting safety, quality, and value in healthcare delivery. Preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) is a top priority for CDC and its partners in public health and healthcare….The 2022 National and State HAI Progress Report provides data on central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), ventilator-associated events (VAEs), surgical site infections (SSIs), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream events, and Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) events."

The CDC itself states that preventing HAIs is a top priority, and it collects reems of data around other, more easily controlled infections. HICPAC, the CDC advisory body that recommends infection control measures has repeatedly come under fire from activists over the past several years as they attempt to shove through a new set of recommendations that incorrectly equates N-95 respirator protection with surgical masks and otherwise ignores airborne transmission of viruses.

HICPAC’s strategy for dealing with the entirely new paradigm uncovered by engineers and aerosol experts in 2021- because, bear in mind, the work of scientists like Linsey Marr showed that no viruses are spreading via “droplet” alone, the way scientists formerly conceptualized their transmission- is utter denial.

It would be too disruptive to decades of infection control norms to acknowledge that SARS-COV-2 came in like a wrecking ball to previous guidance; thus, HICPAC members are pretending they’ve never even heard of COVID. Watching their public facing meetings is bizarre; hours of academic debates where the pandemic isn’t mentioned, followed by 45 minutes of activists explaining that they are unable to access medical care, or that their loved ones caught COVID in the hospital and died. HICPAC members remain utterly stone-faced throughout these sessions and fail to acknowledge the comments at their next session.

Currently, Medicare has a program that reduces funding to hospitals with higher rates of acquired infections; COVID is not one of those targeted. Change this and watch how quickly hospital management goes from not understanding, to indeed understanding, airborne infection control. This is all a matter of financial incentives to hospital management, and those incentives must change.

Since 2020, incentives have stubbornly pushed healthcare institutions to ignore COVID to save the money it would cost to dramatically reimagine healthcare with top-to-bottom airborne infection control. How do you properly segregate COVID+ patients? When do you test them? How often do you test staff? Do you send COVID+ staff home? (Yes, you should, but currently the hospital saves money by not doing this).

We need to pivot from the early pandemic model of mandating individual behaviors (masks, distancing) to mandating outcomes (lack of viral spread in public spaces). That doesn’t mean a public space can never mandate masks, it means that masks must be part of a coherent strategy to prevent infections; this should also eliminate irrational mask rules (mask only before you sit down) and incentivize mask hygiene, education, and distribution. If a hospital loses money because of hospital acquired COVID, it is not merely incentivized to mandate masks. It is incentivized to mandate proper respirator masks, educate staff as to proper mask wearing, fit test masks, properly ventilate and filtrate, ensure that masks aren’t being worn on chins, test staff and patients, send sick staff home, ensure that meals can be eaten in a COVID-free, low-CO2 area, etc.

Legal and financial consequences for infections acquired in congregate settings, prisons, workplaces and schools

Continuing this theme; there is nothing particularly radical about the idea of legal repercussions for infectious disease via negligence in a workplace, school or congregate setting.

You can sue your workplace for infecting you with a foodborne illness if it was not following proper public health regulations. You can sue a school that doesn’t get your kid his epi pen in a timely manner. You could sue a retirement home with cholera in the water.

Therefore, world governments need to set indoor clear air standards, as well as assign culpability for the containment of outbreaks to employers, schools, prisons, etc., with government money available for infrastructure upgrades and a timeline for their achievement. If disease transmission occurs because indoor CO2 is high, because air filters weren’t turned on, because sick people were forced to work, that should be legally actionable the way dirty water and poorly handled food is.

All institutions- schools, workplaces, retirement homes, prisons- must have not only baseline protections like clean air, but outbreak plans. What happens in the event of a positive case? How is that handled, how is spread prevented? Government money, guidance and resources must be available to ease the development of this process.

Before Biden was elected, he promised to implement a new OSHA standard to protect workers from COVID infections. On January 21, 2021, the day after his Inauguration, he issued an Executive Order asking OSHA for revised guidance to protect workers from COVID-19. What resulted was both grossly inadequate and temporary. In June of 2021, OSHA issued an ETS - Emergency Temporary Standard- for healthcare workers only. It included guidance about social distancing, AGPs, solid barriers, and surface disinfection, though it was issued over a month after the WHO updated its website to affirm that COVID was not droplet spread.

It did, however, contain good guidance including screening for healthcare workers, sending positive workers home, reference to respirator masks, reference to HVAC and MERV-13 filters, but it has since expired. In the years since, OSHA has dragged its feet as workers’ groups like the National Nurses Union (NNU) lobbies for protections and industry groups like the American Hospital Association (AHA) lobby against them. If “COVID is here to stay” and “we have to learn to live with COVID”, why would worker protections from infection be temporary?

On the whole, workers were forced back into COVID-riddled workplaces with no new protections. A new OSHA standard should acknowledge the threat of airborne disease, make use of the many technological solutions for mitigating airborne disease, and outline the responsibilities of employers to both utilize available technologies, promote mitigation, and send sick workers home.

Comprehensive indoor clean air laws with specifications for upgraded ventilation, filtration, and other tools like Far UVC

I’ve already written about this in detail. The CDC has decent guidance, updated in May of 2023, about ventilation and filtration, here. However, none of this is enforceable without new legislation, nor does our current infrastructure meet these standards.

Ventilation norms and requirements must be overhauled. Currently, hotels and schools often have windows sealed shut; this is inappropriate for disease control and leads to dangerous levels of CO2 accumulation. All public buildings must be able to guarantee air changes per hour (ACH) deemed appropriate by aerosol experts, keeping CO2 as low as possible. Only MERV-13 or higher (HEPA filtration) effectively filters airborne virus from the air, so these must be standard.

I have only the basic knowledge of a layman; to learn more, you can check out this roadmap for national IAQ standards written by dozens of experts and published in Science.

Far UVC is another promising tool, and engineers should be consulted as to the appropriateness of implementing it in public spaces, particularly in schools, airports, hospitals, and crowded venues.

Work from home should be encouraged, conferences should be virtual where possible, flights should be tested.

Unwinding WFH in the midst of wave after wave of COVID was anti-science and self-defeating. Increasing the severity of waves and worsening spread in the community creates less productivity and more worker absence. Additionally, lessening the environmental impact of commuting and converting commercial real estate to residential should be priorities.

Governments, instead of pushing people back into the office, should be pushing in the opposite direction, for a sustainable approach to long-term remote work. This lessens community spread, environmental pollution, and local traffic, while creating more accessible jobs. Conferences should always have virtual options if they can’t be fully virtual. The carbon footprint of professional conferences is something I do think about a lot, but I digress.

Relatedly, yes, I believe people should have a negative PCR to fly. You do not have the right to get in a tube with a bunch of other people while positive for COVID, period. People need paperwork to fly. They need an ID to fly. They need a passport to fly internationally. It is expensive to fly. There should be on site, cheap, fast PCR or PCR-accurate testing at the airport, and you should need the negative to fly, like you need your ID and ticket. PlusLife tests are 5 Euros.

I had to PCR test to board flights to Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina in 2022 and nobody died. As a disabled person, it was the last time I was able to fly internationally, because I wasn’t forced to risk exposure. Testing has the added benefit of encouraging pro-social mitigation behaviors when people know they will have to test before flying.

Free masks, free tests, free vaccines, free Paxlovid, universal paid sick leave, and negative tests to exit quarantine

Expense should never be a barrier to practicing disease control. As usual, our governments continue to be penny-wise and pound-foolish, depriving people of the tools to keep themselves safe and incurring much, much higher expenses to the economy in terms of long-term health loss of workers.

As of now, volunteer-led radical mask blocs are attempting to fill in the gaps by offering free masks and tests to locals in need, but there is only so much that small groups of (often disabled and multiply marginalized) citizens can do.

We need free distribution of proper KN95 and N95 respirator masks, as well as tests; ideally tests that work well. Currently, the government sends out the odd packet of 2-4 rapid tests; RAT tests are 28% accurate on day 1 of symptoms. We need to get more tests and more accurate tests into the hands of the public, for free. Then we need to allow people to stay home until they test negative.

The CDC has unscientifically reduced the COVID quarantine several times until it has become functionally non-existent; this was done not to effectively control disease, but to appease employers. People with COVID-19 should leave quarantine when they have tested negative on two tests, 24 hours apart. Period. Not before. A positive test = viral load = contagion.

OSHA standards that penalize employers for spread between employees would incentivize the provision of proper sick leave. I do understand that the government, after failing to control COVID for so long, cannot shift the burden of disease control overnight to individual business owners. There needs to be a long period of infrastructure upgrade, education, resource distribution, perhaps even tax incentives for proper pandemic management and airborne infection control. But overall, incentives must align to push individual institutions toward infection control and away from infection maximization. The government must continue to provide support, resources, and education, while building a framework for regulation and financial disincentive as well.

Vaccines must be free. Paxlovid must be free. And in an ideal world, in a world that truly wants to end this pandemic, and all pandemics, healthcare must be free.

Education

Education can take many forms; even the implementation of proper airborne infection control in hospitals is a form of education. It educates the public “here is how you halt the spread of COVID” and “yes COVID is still here” and “yes we take it seriously because it can kill”. Currently, hospitals and medical professionals, at the behest of the WHO and CDC, are communicating the opposite.

But in addition to the education provided by modeling airborne infection control, wearing masks, instituting infection control, implementing legal consequences for infections, setting a new OSHA standard for workers, etc., the public needs direct, honest communication about the health risks of COVID.

This means talking about the risk of Long COVID that accompanies each infection without purposely undercutting that messaging by then loudly reassuring people “but it probably won’t happen to you.” It means explaining COVID is a multi-systemic disease, not just a respiratory virus. It means explaining that COVID carries long-term health risks that outlast the acute infection. It means explaining that COVID variants are excellent at evading immunity, meaning they learn to outsmart our body’s protection via vaccine or previous infection; that’s why you must get boosted and layer your precautions.

Of course, the above is only an overview of prevention. We need another coordinated, funded, communications and research campaign to handle the Long COVID crisis.

In the fantasy world where tomorrow, we can build an ideal pandemic response from the ground up, I see several major switches that would need to flip.

The first is that the culture of silence and denial among leadership would have to change to one of education and communication. Right now, state representatives are deliberately avoiding mention of COVID, while propagandizing the safety of infection and/or the end of the pandemic by refusing to mask. It is hard to imagine how successful a pandemic response might be if public officials were actually trying to end the pandemic. We quite literally have public health and political and media figures working to hide three pieces of critical information: public knowledge of the virus, public knowledge of mitigation measures that would reduce viral spread, and public knowledge of the severity of the virus (which would motivate desire to reduce viral spread).

On the one hand, that is a terrible and depressing place to be. On the other hand, it tells us that we might better control COVID through public behavior alone, if the public were given information and tools instead of purposely obstructed from accessing either. We have a lot of room to grow.

The second would be the construction of physical infrastructure to deal with the existence of very contagious, very common, highly disabling airborne virus that is currently circulating in all public spaces. If we have to “learn to live with” COVID, let’s learn to live with an airborne virus by cleaning the air.

The third would be building the legal infrastructure to enforce and hold accountable a failure to implement said physical infrastructure, along with other disease control measures. Patients should not be infected in hospitals. Workers should not be forcibly infected at work. Prisoners should not be forcibly infected in prisons. Kids should not be forcibly infected in schools. Let’s drill down and prevent transmission in congregate settings, with accountability.

COVID control essentially came to an utter halt because our system was not designed to control airborne disease. Our governments did not want to pay to do it. Our governments did not want to explain that they did not want to pay to do it. But this is 2024. We have technology we haven’t even begun to deploy in the fight against COVID, all because we’re too proud to admit we’re still fighting. We have not even scratched the surface of what would a pandemic response that acknowledges the airborne nature of COVID could achieve.

The introduction of the vaccines in early 2021 appeared to our governments like a “get out of jail free” card. They thought they could grab onto it, induce broad herd immunity, and get back to normal without ever acknowledging or paying for clean air. But that isn’t what happened, and now, our lack of mitigations continues to rapidly produce new variants that harm the efficacy of our vaccines.

It would’ve been nice if the vaccines were all that were needed to end the SARS-COV-2 crisis. Since it isn’t, we need our leaders to stop doubling down on their failed strategy, accept reality, and start building a long-term approach to ending this airborne pandemic, as well as avoiding future ones.

The problem underlying all the current failures is that, quite simply, our government is not trying to end this pandemic. It is trying to hide this pandemic. And you’re not going to solve a problem you won’t acknowledge.

[diazsdimples]

To absolutely no ones surprise, I am sending Doctor AU emojis ⚕️⚕️⚕️⚕️⚕️⚕️

18 doctory sentences! And my apologies in advance 😬

“I’ve called blood bank and initiated the massive hemorrhage protocol, but they had a problem cross matching her blood so there’s going to be a delay. I don’t think –” “I know, Bobby,” Eddie snaps. The tension in the room is thick enough to bite, and Eddie knows they’re all in crisis mode. The insistent plink plink plink of blood falling to the floor sets Eddie’s teeth on edge as he rushes to push the retractor towards Jessica’s bladder, holding it out of the way so he can properly get to the uterus. “Hold that,” he instructs, pushing the retractor towards the junior doctor on the other side of the table. “Keep it taut, I don’t want to risk giving her a bladder injury on top of everything else.” Although, internally, Eddie knows a bladder injury will be the least of her worries, if she makes it out of the OR. He works methodically, clamping blood vessels and isolating ligaments and nerve bundles. The junior doctor holds each retractor as instructed, but Eddie can see the way her hands shake, the metal instruments clinking together as she stands as still as she can. The room is silent, save for the sound of the ventilator and the dripping. It’s slowed down since Eddie managed to clamp the bisected artery, but he knows there’s still little to no hope from here. Without fresh blood to replace what she’s lost, Jessica’s heart won’t be able to pump effectively, and eventually it’ll give up entirely. But he can’t stop. He won’t stop, not until… “Eddie.” He begins the first cut, eyes focused solely on the operating field, filled with less blood now but still complete carnage. “Eddie,” Bobby’s voice, insistent and strained, jolts him. “She’s gone into asystole. Commencing resuscitation.”

[squidthesquidd]

*scratches at window cutely* any lore of pre-war Cybertron pls :3 💫💫

teehee :3 well… every since watching tfone my ideas have changed a bit, but most of my pre-war lore is a bunch of my favorite bits and pieces from other continuities! (also all bots have t-cogs)

as for characters, the ones I have the most ideas for pre-war are Optimus, Elita, Megatron, and ratchet! Optimus, elita, and megs were of course: Orion pax, Ariel, and D-16 (ratchet was always ratchet lol)

Orions job was to transport energon from the mines to the refineries, so he wasn’t actually in the mines himself, and instead worked around them. he did essentially live with the miners though. I think ive mentioned this before, but his cooling and ventilation systems have never worked properly, so despite his job being very easy for most, it put a lot of strain on him because of how easily he overheated.

Ariel wasn’t a miner herself, she was a mining dump truck, so she just carried away all the unneeded material that was dug up. also!! she used to be yellow instead of pink (tfa elita reference lol) She always followed the rules and did what she was told.. except when it came to orion. her superiors often gave orion a hard time, so she would get in the middle of it, and since she’s huge and great at her job, they could never get rid of her for insubordination. (she was also the only dump truck at the mine she was stationed at so she definitely wasnt expendable)

D-16 worked in the mines just as your typical run of the mill miner. he was great at what he did, buuuuuut he did have a bit of an issue with authority figures. and this pissed off his superiors a lot, so after one particularly heated argument where D and ariel were trying to convince their boss to please let Orion go to a medic cus smoke is literally pouring out of him, D was shipped off to the gladiator ring. His frame was practically remade to twice its original size, and he was dropped off in the fighters barracks. he hated fighting but was unfortunately very good at it, and his fans nicknamed him “megatronus” which he later shortened to Megatron

aaaaaand last but not least, Ratchet! He was created a medic, loved being a medic, and was amazing at what he did. After an incident at the mine where our big three worked at, Ratchet was sent there to treat any wounded he could find.. whhiiich is where he found Orion! Orion wasn’t injured in the incident, but he was severely overheated at the time, and Ratchet saw this chronically ill little guy and immediately decided he just had to help him. Ratchet got permission to bring Orion back with him to run some tests, aaand it turned out that if orions temperature increased anymore he was literally going to explode and die! but ratchet was able to stabilize him 👍 yaaaay. after that, Ratchet would often be at the mines where orion stayed so he could do daily checkups on him and to keep him from going offline. and of course they became besties lol

as for society and governemntttt,,, the functionist system was very much in play (if you were created with a certain alt-mode, that dictates your entire life) i think the aligned continuity is closest to what im going for with.

tbh i dont have it super fleshed but i’ll be working on it 👍👍💥

[clean-bubbles-aka-bubbles]

CHASED

The distraction was enough to give them a five-second head start before the two security guards were able to process what happened.

"Get them!"

The gold-masked Transformer exclaimed, running after the two. Orion and (Y/Cyb/n) dashed through the corridors, weaving through the boxes and crates. The two security guards, slightly caught off guard, soon recovered quickly and gave chase. Their large servos pushed aside the obstacles in their way, creating a wake of destruction as they pursued the two.

"Halt!"

"Stop immediately!"

The two security guards shouted at Orion and (Y/Cyb/n) as they closed in. With quick thinking, Orion let go of his friend's servo and leaped to grab a ventilation shaft, pulling it open.

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*CLANK!*

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The metal swung open, hitting the two security guards in their faceplates as they fell to the floor. While they were monetarily down, (Y/Cyb/n) activated one of his Algorithms, which was the Quadirectional Keeper.

He shifted a few boxes and crates over, creating a wall and barrier before running off.

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*Screech!*

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Orion slid across the floor, hitting a shelf before getting back to his pedes and running alongside (Y/Cyb/n), who nearly tripped and stumbled. "I... I... I... We need something to fly." Orion muttered.

They were about to run further, but Orion paused when he noticed one of the security drones. "::Halt, criminals! Prepared to be detained—"

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*CLANK!*

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After they made a left turn, Orion grabbed the drone with his other servo. Passing through more crates, they were nearing a shaft that led to the outside. Behind the two, the noise of gears and metal shifting was heard. Glancing behind, they both saw the security guards turning into an aerial vehicle, increasing their speed.

"Hang on!" Orion shouted.

"[CONFUSED] Huh—"

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*CRASH!*

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As they plummeted from the upside-down building, Orion gripped the security drone tightly, his panicked shouts echoing through the chaos. Meanwhile, (Y/Cyb/n) struggled to convey his emotions without functional vocalizers, resorting to selecting an audio file to mimic a scream.

"Start, start, start!" Orion cursed as he frantically thumped the security drone. The thought of dying was unbearable to him, not now, not ever, not today.

Suddenly, there was a powerful BWOOSH as Orion activated the drone's jet boost, propelling it into the air. (Y/Cyb/n) clung to the other side of the drone as it spun through the sky. Their moment of relief was cut short when an aerial vehicle collided with them.

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*SMACK!*

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They careened in a different direction, crashing into a right-side-up building with a resounding THUD. As they tumbled down the steep, slippery slope of the building, teetering on the edge, Orion urgently warned (Y/n) to brace for impact. With a tight grip on the security drone, (Y/n) swiftly deactivated it using the Saboteur Catalyst Algorithm.

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*FWOOSH!* 

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They were launched into the air, hurtling across to the other side with a sharp CLANK as they barely managed to clutch onto the edge of another building. Orion struggled to find purchase on the smooth surface, desperately attempting to pull himself up as they dangled precariously over the edge.

(Y/Cyb/n) huffed and squirmed to pull himself up. He glanced behind and noticed the two security bots heading toward them in their alt modes.

Swiftly, (Y/Cyb/n) drew out his Laser Blade knife and stabbed it into the metal, using it as a stepping stone to pull himself up. "Come on." He offered a servo to Orion, who quickly grabbed it and pulled himself up. They both began to run to a door with an opening.

"Haha!" Orion turned back to taunt the two guards. "So long, sir-"

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*FWOOP!*

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He was cut off as they both fell through a hole instead of feeling flat ground.

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*Crash!*

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Orion landed on his back, breaking a table of a small party of Transformers. (Y/Cyb/n) landed more carefully, although it was clumsy since he tripped before falling.

"Ooh, Energon." Orion smiled, picking himself up and taking several small Energon cubes. "Evening, everyone. Pardon us." He waved as he casually left the room of confused Transformers with (Y/Cyb/n) shuffling along.

The door slid open quickly when they left. Orion ducked from a passing aerial vehicle, making him drop the armful of Energon. He again held (Y/Cyb/n)'s servo, guiding the trans-mech through the crowd. His optics soon landed on a train coming from their side.

"Hey, that's our ride!" He gestured to the moving transportation. "You ready?"

"[APPREHENSIVE NOD]" (Y/Cyb/n) nodded, nervous at the thought of jumping on the fast-moving train.

"Here we go!" Orion exclaimed, running to a railing of the central walkway of Iacon.

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*Clank!*

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*Fwoosh!*

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They stepped onto the railing and jumped over, freefalling to the moving train.

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*Thud!*

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Orion carefully landed on the train's outside due to its rounded and smooth surface. (Y/Cyb/n) landed a bit off, making him slip off the train. The blue and red Cybertronian grabbed his friend's servo, helping him to his pedes. The Transformers who heard the noise looked annoyed, recognizing the two, especially the "the most defective one" out of the defective mining bots and society. They at least didn't make a big deal about their presence.

The train carried on, moving swiftly across the train tracks. Orion and (Y/Cyb/n) found themselves on top of other passengers of the same train, although it was evident that the other passengers were giving them disapproving looks. The occasional glance and murmurs indicated they weren't pleased with their presence, especially (Y/Cyb/n). However, nobody bothered to speak directly, simply grumbling among themselves.

"What's with all the sour faces?" Orion muttered under his breath, his optics scanning the train's occupants.

"[SHRUG]" (Y/Cyb/n) spoke reflexivelyflexively.

The train continued its ride until it stopped at a station. Orion and (Y/Cyb/n) slid down the train's door when it opened upward. They took off running again to get away further.

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*SWOOSH!*

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The noise of jet engines was heard above the two as they noticed the pair of familiar aerial vehicles approaching from behind.

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*THUD!*

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Both Transformers turned into their bipedal modes, landing in front of them with a loud thud. "[NERVOUS GULP]" (Y/Cyb/n) instinctively spoke before he played an audio sound of gulping as he huddled behind Orion Pax.

"Hey, big fellas." The blue and red robot waved at the approaching security transformers as he tried to catch his breath from running. "Thanks for the headstart. Do you want to go for another run again?"

The magenta-masked transformer chuckled mockingly. "You're not getting away this time, Oeron."

He tilted slightly towards (Y/Cyb/n), who shyly peeked out from behind his friend's shoulder. "And we're not letting the walking ticking time bomb out of our sights."

Orion's optics narrowed with irritation as the security Transformers approached, their optics fixed on (Y/Cyb/n). He stepped forward to shield his friend, standing protectively before him. "Hey, watch your language. You don't even know him."

The magenta-masked guard smirked, clearly enjoying the chance to belittle (Y/Cyb/n). "Oh, we know him. Everyone knows him. He's the most defective mining bot on this whole planet."

"Okay--you might have a point right there-" Orion stuttered out. "But hey! You could probably know him better if you were just nicer to him! He doesn't bite or explode-"

The golden-masked guard let out a frustrated scoff and stepped forward. "You're dead!"

"I'll take that as a no..." Orion's sheepish smile faltered.

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*Clank!*

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The golden-masked guard was bumped by a cart being pushed by a miner bot. The two guards turned behind to see who bumped into them.

"Hey!" A dark grey and silver Cybertronian complained when his stuff fell down. "What where you're going- His complaint died out quickly as he realized the Transformers he was confronting had a bigger frame.

"What did you say, no-cog!?" The golden-masked security guard snarled menacingly, addressing his superiority.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't mean you." The Cybertronian stepped back, his servos raised in a placid gesture. "I was referring to the two bots who were behind you."

At that moment, when they turned their helms to face the two bots they were trying to chase, they were gone already, taking the distraction to flee or hide. "Where did they go!?" The golden-masked guard snarled in disbelief and annoyance, looking around with his magenta-masked brother.

"The filthy red and blue bot with his special left optic?" The miner mech inquired, placing the spilled contents back into his cart. "Yeah- the red and blue with a big mouth, squeaky joints, and a corrosive metallic stench. His buddy..."

He trailed off slightly, not wanting to offend the poor "defected" trans-mech who was unfortunate to be built the way he was. "He's a bit... buggy here and there." He didn't have a lot of bad things to say about (Y/Cyb/n).

He was a genuinely kind and placid person, although extremely monotonous and quiet to others due to his "defect" of impaired vision, a broken vocalizer, and the need to narrate his actions and emotions reflexively.

The two security guards nodded in mutual understanding, a touch of disgust crossing their faceplates.

"That's them, alright." The magenta-masked guard grumbled, optics scanning the area.

"Where are they!?" The golden-masked guard echoed his companion's words, his voice dripping with irritation.

"They went that way." The miner bot pointed a servo to his right.

The security guards looked at where the miner bot supposedly saw them before they took off, not without the golden-masked Transformer grumbling, "When I get my hands on them..."

"Ooh, I can't wait to give that little defected-freak buddy of his a nice check-up." The magenta-masked Transformer was added.

Once they were out of the way, the miner bot pushed the car into the train as the door closed.

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*Psssh!!*

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With a sharp hiss, the train began to move to its subsequent designation: The Energon Mines. While on the train, the miner acknowledged a passing bot with a nod and waited for a few moments. The miner bot then spoke to the cart, "Alright, all clear."

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*Clank!*

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Orion popped out of the cart, grabbing the drilling machine. "D-16, I may be rusty but corrosive- that is too far." He chuckled at his best friend playfully. D-16 had covered him and (Y/Cyb/n) hiding from the guards by staying in the cart D-16 was carrying.

"Let me guess," the dark grey and silver mech spoke with a knowing smirk. "You checked out of the archives?"

"Yeah," the blue and red mech nodded enthusiastically, midway in pulling himself out of the cart. "I had to jump out of a window this time. Almost died- it was wild." He summarized.

"And going through ancient data is worth dying for?" D-16 asked sarcastically.

"Yes, it is." Orion pulled himself out before he tumbled, spilling the cart's contents again.

The contents spilled again, leaving D-16 groaning in slight annoyance, concern, and exasperation. "Ugh... I need a new best friend." The dark gray and silver miner bot mumbled with sarcasm as he felt to help Orion put the items back.

"Ow." (Y/Cyb/n) monotonously yelped, rolling out of the cart, too, faceplanting against the floor.

D-16 chuckled, patting the top of (Y/Cyb/n)'s helm affectionately before offering a servo to pull him up. "Careful, you clumsy buddy."

Orion chuckled as he began to pick up the cart's spilled contents. The other two mechs assisted Orion in placing the contents back. "If there are clues and our recording history to help us locate the Matrix of Leadership. There in the archives." The red and blue bot tried to reason. "Trust me-"

"Sentinel Prime," D-16 spoke sternly. "The-Sentinel Prime is up on the surface," He tossed in another metal prop. "Risking his life for us in search of the Matrix."

"That's exactly what I am doing!" Orion replied enthusiastically. "I'm trying to help him."

"Yeah, yeah- okay." D-16 chuckled, leaning against the cart as he chuckled at his best friend's ambition of searching the Matrix of Leadership.

"The sooner the Energon flows, the sooner we don't have to mine for it," Orion remarked. "Don't you want to choose your own path? Do whatever you want?"

"We're miners. We mine, that's all." D-16 deadpanned.

"No." Orion Pax disagreed, leaning back against the cart. "There's got to be something more I can do. I... I can feel it."

"Oh yeah?" The dark gray and silver bot had an amused smirk at his best friend. "Like the time you had a "feeling" you could "transform" without a cog?"

"You said you were never going to mention that again." The blue-optic mech pointed a digit at D-16, not wanting to remember the embarrassing memory.

"Took me three days to pry you over." D-16 added. "Your feelings can get you in trouble."

"Mm..." (Y/Cyb/n) hummed in agreement. He popped his helm out sheepishly his shawl. He tugged the metallic fabric over his helm as if it were his only security blanket to comfort him from society looking down at him.

Orion pouted sheepishly at (Y/Cyb/n)'s agreement. "Oh, not you, too?"

D-16 chuckled in amusement at his friend's sheepish response. "I think that says something..."

The blue and red bot let out a huff, feigning a hint of annoyance, but a hint of a smile was evident on his faceplate. "You two are both traitors, you know that?" He then chuckled jokingly.

"Sure are." The dark gray and silver bot placed a servo on the (a/c) trans-mech's shoulderplates.

"Yeah, yeah..." The blue and red bot waved dismissively at his friend's comment while he picked up another piece of metal.

"Just trust Sentinel Prime." The dark gray and silver bot shrugged.

"I do trust him," Orion remarked quickly before tossing in a piece of metal into the cart.

"Hey, if we did have cogs-"

"I'd transformed into a shovel. I would still beat you." D-16 answered his friend's rhetorical question quickly, leaning against the transparent door of the train. "What about you?" He looked at the other two mechs.

"I don't like how fast you answered that." Orion huffed, leaning against the cart.

"..." (Y/Cyb/n) contemplated in his own thoughts. The left pupil of his broken optic changed from a neutral, flat white line into a vibrant, ocean-blue teardrop once more as he stared at the floor.

For cycles since the incident, he'd been told that a Codex like him (despite not knowing the meaning) shouldn't deserve to be a Transform, or he wouldn't be granted the ability to transform because of his "strange powers."

Orion glanced at (Y/Cyb/n)'s optic, its tear-drop-shaped pupil gleaming of his defected optic. His optics widened, concern etched on his faceplate.

"Hey- hey." The blue and red mech turned his gaze directly at (Y/Cyb/n), his voice dripping with worry. "Don't listen to any of that nonsense. You're not an... a..." Orion couldn't bring himself to say the word.

Instead, he cleared his throat and replaced it with something more friendly. "You're an individual like us. You're not defective. You're not."

D-16's optics softened, sharing Orion's sentiment as he glanced at the (a/c) mech beside him. "Exactly," he replied, his tone mirroring Orion's concern.

He placed a reassuring servo on (Y/Cyb/n)'s shoulder plates, giving them a gentle squeeze. "No matter what anyone says, you're as much a Cybertronian as any of us."

(Y/Cyb/n) looked up at the two mechs, his optics filled with gratitude and vulnerability. "[GRATITUDE AND SHEEPISH NOD]" He flatly spoke his action and emotion reflexively again while doing it.

Orion and D-16 nodded at (Y/Cyb/n)'s response, their expression holding a mixture of concern and reassurance. Both shared a glance, a silent understanding passing between them.

The dark grey and silver bot took the lead, breaking the momentary silence. "And don't let those guards' words get to you either." He spoke sternly. "You are not a 'defect.'"

"... And you are not a walking ticking time bomb." the blue and red mech quickly added, turning his gaze towards (Y/Cyb/n) as he spoke.

"Yeah." D-16 chimed in with a firm nod. "You're just... a bit buggy here and there, that's all."

For a few moments, the train carriage was silent, with the only sounds being the low hum of the train's engines and the occasional click of metal against metal.

Orion broke it as he glanced at D-16. "Listen, if you did beat me, I could give you this Megatronus Prime I have here, or I could give it to someone else."

"What Megatronus Prime thing?" The dark gray and silver mech inquired.

"It's nothing. You know, the unconditioned Megatronus Prime decal first edition?"

Orion smirked, taking out a Megatronous Prime sticker out of nowhere.

D-16 gasped in shock and surprise. He was a massive fan of Megatronous Prime. "What?" He spoke breathlessly.

"I mean, if you don't want it. I can just throw it away." The red and blue bot teased, twirling the sticker.

"Throw it away-" The dark gray and silver mech furrowed his optic ridges in disbelief. "That's not funny, let me see-"

"Waaait- don't grab." Orion stepped back after D-16 tried to reach for it. "You're going to crease it." He smiled, gently placing the sticker on his best friend's arm.

The yellow-optic mining Cybertronian smiled with contentment. "As Sentinel Prime says, Megatronous was-"

"-strongest Prime who ever lived." Orion crossed his arms with a knowing smirk. "I know that." He looked at the sticker on his best friend's arm. "Looks good on you." He complimented.

"Dawg, it's-" The yellow-optic mech was still in awe at the sticker he was given. "It's really cool." He glanced back at the blue-optic mech. "Thanks."

"[REALIZATION]" (Y/Cyb/n)'s optics suddenly lit up. He clicked a button on his wrist, opening up a mini-storage compartment, revealing several cubes of Energon. "Surprise." He smiled monotonously, his left pupil turning into a yellow circle.

"These were stolen when Orion and I ran away from the guards. So I thought we could fuel on some snacks before we get to work in the mines."

The two mechs were surprised at how their friend was able to obtain a handful of the and store it in his compartment. "How did you-" D-16 looked at the Energon cubes with a mixture of awe and disbelief.

"I-I thought I dropped them?" The blue and red mech was genuinely confused about how (Y/Cyb/n) was able to steal several cubes of them.

"I picked them up and stored them in the compartment. [GIGGLE]" (Y/Cyb/n) flatly remarked.

"Why thanks, (Y/Cyb/n)!" Orion reached for one of the Energon cubes while the dark silver mech just stared at it.

"This is the best surprise I've ever got, (Y/Cyb/n)!" He grinned widely at the (a/c) mech. "Thanks!" He took one of the snack cubes.

"Mhm." (Y/Cyb/n) nodded.

Orion Pax smiled at the warm-hearted camaraderie between each other. "Always got each other's back." He held out a curled servo.

"No matter what." D-16 agreed, fist-bumping Orion's servo.

"[AGREEING NOD]" The (opt/c) optic trans-mech chimed his emotion reflexively as he bumped his servo between the two best friends' own. "Cheers to friendship." He held up the Energon cube.

"To friendship." Orion Pax and D-16 spoke simultaneously before the three popped the Energon cube into their intakes.

As the trio savored the last of their Energon snacks, the train gradually decelerated upon reaching the next underground station, enveloping the surroundings in dimness.

"::Approaching sublevel station. Stand clear of doors...::" The voice echoed through the train's intercom as they delved deeper into the tunnel.

"Ah, man, looks like it's time for work," the dark grey and silver bot remarked with a sheepish chuckle before disembarking from the carriage.

Orion Pax, his shoulders drooping in resignation, muttered, "You can say that again," as he followed the dark grey and silver bot.

Feeling nervous and apprehensive, (Y/Cyb/n) clutched onto his shawl for comfort. Orion Pax offered a reassuring pat on his friend's back, saying, "You'll be alright down here, buddy. No one would judge you."

[vegance]

I do agree that as vegans we need to be compassionate in our activism, that aggression and rudeness rarely work in convincing people to change a deeply ingrained cultural habit. People deserve kindness, we are all complex creatures. And I mostly abide by that. But sometimes I really wish that vegan friendly Omnis would extend that same compassion to us vegans and just try to imagine what it is like for a second.

Vegan activism does not only take place in specific contexts, in specific planned situations. You always have to be „on“. Every time you have a meal with someone new, everytime someone asks why you don’t want a hot dog, why you won’t join your colleagues on the zoo trip.

Every time someone asks you why you are vegan, you have to jump to activism mode. Be kind. Be factual. Don’t push, but don’t be a pushover. And I manage that, mostly! But when Omnis compliment vegans for being so kind and calm, I do wonder if they know that those vegans only manage because they have pushed their emotions into a box and nailed it shut. These emotions still exist!! I am actively pushing them down to be a functioning member of society and an effective advocate for the animals.

But sometimes they do come to the surface. I think most vegans had the experience of learning about a specific aspect of animal exploitation that surprised them. For me, it was the deliberate cruelty that takes place on farms and slaughter houses every day. Not cruelty for the sake of profit. Or cruelty out of indifference. Cruelty for the sake of being cruel to animals.

There is a specific video that I saw and I cannot forget. It’s not even that graphic. Some calves were being herded into another pen. But a few of them didn’t understand what was happening, where confused and frightened. This frustrated the man who was doing the job. Finally, he got the last calf to go through the gate. But this was not enough for him, because he was angry and frustrated. So he pulled that calf back into the gate, and slammed his body against the door a few times, crushing the calf in the gate.

I don’t think he even severely injured the calf. But I just can’t stop imagining what that must be like. To be a baby animal, confused and frightened. And this large creature pulls you back and hurts you. You don’t understand why this is happening. How terrifying it must be. How painful. To be so utterly under that persons dominion. The thought of someone doing that to their pet would turn most people’s stomachs.

And then I am talking to some kind, left wing person. Who donates to charity. And voted against sexiest politicians. And they say they will never be vegan, because they don’t want to.

And I just imagine myself saying to the little calf:“I’m sorry. You and your kind will have to keep going through that. Because Tim here just doesn’t want to give up this specific kind of burger.“ Sorry to the pigs screaming in the gas chambers. Sorry to the chickens dying agonizing deaths in ventilation shutdown. Sorry to all the marine animals dying of divers sickness as they are pulled out of the water way to fast. „You will have to keep enduring this. Because, you see, Tim cares more about having a specific type of pizza topping. So the unfathomable suffering you are all going through? That’s just too bad“.

And I know it’s not effective!! It’s not helpful!! But sometimes that little calf squeezes it’s way out of the bix in the back of my mind. And it’s really hard to put it back in.

[flamingspud]

I’ll be There

”You know the job-" Kaz had began in typical Kaz fashion. "Get in, grab the jurda seeds, and get out without getting caught," Jesper finished for him, in typical Jesper fashion. Kaz gave him an unimpressed look.

What should’ve been a simple job goes horribly off the rails when some of the Crows inhale hallucinogenic seed fungus, leaving the others scrambling to find ways to talk them lucid.

(Based on S3 Ep17 of Scorpion, “Dirty Seeds, Done Dirt Cheap”)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62838631

(idk why it won’t size up)

Fic under the cut:

Some trigger warnings before we begin: -Referenced Sexual Abuse -Referenced Child Abuse -Internalised Ableism -Any tws that would be associated with Jordie’s death They’re all canon typical, keep yourselves safe!

"You know the job-" Kaz had began in typical Kaz fashion.

"Get in, grab the jurda seeds, and get out without getting caught," Jesper finished for him, in typical Jesper fashion.

Kaz gave him an unimpressed look.

"Most days of the year the vault is unmanned anyway- unless we're extremely unlucky with shift changes there shouldn't even be anyone to interrupt us," Wylan pointed out, tugging on his backpack strap, 

"Plus we've hopefully disabled the security system for most of the building, so we'll only need to work on the vault itself."

"It doesn't mean it won't be protected by something else, which is why we need to remain focused," Kaz reminded them.

As the group approached the facility he reached into his pocket, and handed each of his friends a small mechanical device. 

"Courtesy of our friends from Ravka," Kaz said, putting the machine in his ear, and the others followed. "So that we can stay in contact."

"Amazing," Matthias breathed, unable to believe such a small device could do something so complicated.

Breaking into the compound itself wasn't too difficult- it was located in the back arse middle of nowhere in Novyi Zem, so there was no one around to hear them as they made their entrance.

"Alright, Jesper, you go to the records room to find out where everything we need is," Kaz commanded.

Jesper gave a small salute. "Sure thing boss."

"Wylan and Inej will go fix the generator so that the doors to the main vault have the power they need," Kaz continued, "Nina and Matthias will keep watch out here and I'll go to the manual command room to open the doors we want, and make sure security doesn't go off."

"Sounds like a plan," Matthias agreed, and the group split up, Inej, Wylan and Kaz heading into the storage facility as Nina, Matthias and Jesper stayed in the admin areas.

"I'll go flip the breaker switch," Inej told Wylan, "it'll cover more ground quicker."

Wylan nodded and the two split up.

Once Kaz got to the control room, he began looking through some of the controls, before flicking one of the levers that said manual controls so that it was at the on position.

As soon as he did, some of the doors throughout the facility slammed closed, and he heard the ventilation system begin whirring with life after who knows how long. He coughed as the dust that had formed in the vents was stirred around the room.

Wylan and Inej had similar reactions.

"What was that?" Inej asked over the communication devices.

"It seems this place has been unmanned for a lot longer than we thought," Kaz said, finally managing to stop his dust-fueled coughing.

"It says here that the system goes into defence mode when there's damage," Jesper explained, reading an informational file he had found. "Everything should be fine once you fix up the wiring, Merchling."

"I'll be there soon," Wylan replied, picking up the pace as he headed to the generator room.

Kaz let out a sigh, deciding that he should at least set the doors to unlock while waiting for Wylan and Inej to get their jobs done. Before he could flick the lever, however, another hatch on the wall flipped open, and water began streaming into the room.

"For the love of...!"

"Everything alright in there?" Nina asked.

"No! There seems to be more security measures than we had initially thought," Kaz said, searching the room for something to block the water with. "The room is quickly filling with water and the door is shut tight!"

Jesper furrowed his eyebrows. "There's no record of a trap like that..." He flicked through more files to double check.

"Well unless there's another explanation for an indoor tsunami the records must be wrong!" Kaz snapped.

"I don't hear any running water," Matthias pointed out.

"Me neither," Nina agreed, "though I can hear the chair Jesper's sitting in squeaking."

"Then these devices must be broken!" Kaz insisted, clearly frustrated.

"Hey Jesper, you grew up on a farm right?" Inej asked. "Would seed dust have any effects on you if you breathed it in?"

"Depends on the type- why?" Jesper responded.

"Cause I'm starting to think that it wasn't regular dust that the vents spread-" the ground was coated in a thick layer of orange dust, and she noticed a half-filled box of a similar substance "-do Rye seeds mean anything to you?"

Jesper almost fell out of his seat. "Please tell me you're joking."

"No, why?" Inej was getting concerned.

"Do the seeds have a yellow, sticky substance on them?"

"Yeah…"

Jesper cursed. "That's not rye you're breathing, it's ergot."

"What does it do?" Wylan asked.

"I remember my da telling me about it- said to be careful because it makes you have nightmares."

"That's a good thing then- right?" Matthias asked, "wouldn't that mean the Demjin isn't actually in danger?"

"Not exactly- while small bits wouldn't do much, but big and concentrated amounts are not good for the brain, something about blocking up paths-"

"If you're talking about neural-pathways, then this is bad," Nina said, "if they're blocked he could fall into a coma! Who breathed it in?"

Matthias looked at her funny.

"I'm a heartrender, it's my job to know this stuff."

"Well there's no vents in here, so I should be good," Jesper said.

"So that means the Demjin, Inej and Wylan are going to face their worst fears, and will possibly fall into comas?" Matthias asked.

"Unless we can get to them- yes," Nina confirmed.

"To open the doors Wylan needs to fix generator, Inej will need to flick the breaker switch and Kaz will need to divert the power to the doors," Jesper said, 

"You two who haven't shown symptoms yet- if you see anything weird it's not real!"

"I'm sorry," Inej apologised, "I need to get back to work first."

"This is your work," Nina said, "Inej?!"

But she wasn't responding anymore, in fact to her, she wasn't even there anymore.

"You have a client," Tante Heleen informed her.

Inej returned a small nod, her voice emotionless as she said "Ok."

"Inej!" Nina said again, this time more urgently.

"Now the two of them are unresponsive," Matthias muttered.

"We're going to make our way to you, Jesper," Nina informed him over the comms.

"Uh oh," Wylan uttered.

"What's wrong?" Jesper asked.

"The generator-" Wylan swallowed- "there's some kind of password lock on it."

Jesper furrowed his eyebrows. "Who puts password protection on a generator?"

"People who don't want people breaking with their vault!" Wylan said a little more hysterically than the situation called for.

"Have you tried one two three four?" Jesper asked, half a real suggestion and half an attempt to lighten the mood.

Wylan shook his head. "No- it's not a number code."

Jesper pulled out one of the manuals, looking for any mention of a password lock on the generator. 

"There shouldn't be a lock, Wy," he said gently.

"Well there is one and I have no idea how to bypass it!" Wylan answered shortly.

Nina shook her head as she and Matthias hurried into the room. "Telling them it's not real is only going to agitate them, if we want them to get their tasks done we're going to need to find another way."

"Hey, Wylan, why don't you just try a random password?" He asked, trying his best not to show his own fear.

"I can't!" Wylan practically yelled, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, I can't…"

"Wylan!"

"I'm trying! Father, I swear I'm trying…"

Jesper shut up at the mention of Van Eck, realising that without a plan talking might only make things worse.

"What are we going to do?" Matthias asked, "they're not going to get anything done if they can't even hear us."

"There has to be something we can do to bring them back to reality," Jesper said.

"Crazy idea, but fears stem from a point in the past, right?" Nina suggested, "if that point or event never happened then there'd be nothing for them to be afraid of!"

"Yeah well unfortunately I don't have my time machine handy," Jesper said sarcastically.

"We don't need one, they're already there," Matthias said, "if they're reliving their worst moments we just need to change the ending."

"Matthias you are a genius!" Jesper cheered.

"Well I'd bet good money that Inej is reliving her time at the menagerie," Nina said.

"And growing up Wylan was told that his reading made him useless," Matthias added.

"And Kaz…" Jesper tried to think of anything Kaz told them about his past, "doesn't like water, for some reason."

"This'll probably be better if we divide and conquer, so Jesper, you talk to Wylan, I'll talk to Inej and Matthias you get to talk Kaz down," Nina decided.

"Why do I have to do the Demjin?" Matthias asked.

"Because I said so, now stop complaining and go!"

***

Inej was tired. Tired of men using her body for their own means, tired of being in an indenture so unfair that she'd never get out of it, tired of everything.

"Inej!" Nina pleaded, to no avail. She had spent the past minute trying to convince Inej that she wasn't there anymore, that she worked with them and that Tante Heleen couldn't hurt her anymore, but nothing worked.

She needed a new strategy. She wasn't going to believe her that she wasn't there anymore, so she'd have to get her out, but how-

An idea came to Nina, the memories of Inej telling her about how she got out surfacing in her mind.

She let out a groan. "This has got to be the most embarrassing thing I'll ever do," she muttered under her breath.

She then pulled herself together, lowered her voice and said, "I didn't hear you sneak up on me."

Inej didn't say anything, so to drive the point home she grabbed the nearest chair, turned it at an angle and hit the ground with one of the legs.

Matthias gave her a weird look, so she frowned back at him. "You focus on Kaz and I'll focus on Inej," she instructed.

"Who are you?" Inej's voice asked over the device cautiously.

"I think you know who I am," was Nina-Kaz's response.

Inej looked this stranger up and down, her eyes landing on his gloved hands.

"…You're Dirtyhands, aren't you?" Inej asked.

"The one and only," he responded.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. If the infamous barrel boss was there, it could mean nothing good.

"Nothing too important," was his reply, "but you caught my attention."

A spike of fear shot through Inej. "I-I did?"

She'd already been with a few clients already, and she didn't want to deal with another, especially not someone as dangerous as Dirtyhands.

Nina silently cursed at herself before she quickly explained, "not sexually…!"

Inej raised her eyebrows at him. Then why?-

He cleared his throat. "How would you like a job as my spider?" He asked.

"Your spider?" Inej repeated, as if this was all bizarre to her.

Dirtyhands nodded. "You know, get information for me and I'll pay you for it.

"I get that part-" Inej closed her eyes to think- "but why? Why me?"

"Because you deserve more than this place, Inej," he said with complete confidence. "Nobody deserves to be here."

Nina held her breath as Inej considered this. "What about Tante Heleen?"

"I'll pay off your indenture," Dirtyhands promised her, "all you have to do is flip that breaker switch."

Inej looked at the switch in question, the cold mechanical lever sticking out among the rest of the menagerie's silks and colours. 

This was too good to be true, there were far easier ways to get someone to work for you here, ways that would be a lot cheaper.

"So what-" she swallowed nervously- "you want to pay off my indenture so I can be your spy? Surely there's a catch."

"The catch is you'll have to work in the Barrel among the crooks and thieves. You'll be expected to work for me for a few years so that I make back the cost of your indenture, but it won't be a pipe dream. I can even get the contract written up for you in Ravkan if you so choose. You will once again have power over your own life, that is my offer." 

Inej considered this. 

The life of a crook wasn't ideal but…

"Ok."

Anything to get out of the menagerie.

Nina waited with anticipation, and to her delight she heard the flick of the switch. "Way to go Inej!" She cheered, this time with her own voice.

Inej yawned. "I think I need to lay down for a bit…"

"Shit…!" 

While Nina tried to keep Inej awake, Jesper was trying to figure out how to deal with Wylan.

***

Wylan was twelve years old again, and it was just like when his father would yell at him for being unable to read even the words that should've been simple, like "cat" or "dog." 

Only this time his inability meant that his friends wouldn't be able to break into the vault and get what they needed, all because of his stupidity.

Ghezen, he really was useless.

Jesper was afraid of saying something wrong and making things worse for Wylan, but his quiet hiccups through the communication device that let Jesper know that he was trying to hide his tears made him antsy.

Nina had managed to get through to Inej by doing a rather uncanny Kaz impression, something that he would definitelytease her for later. He wondered if a similar strategy would work for him, though Wylan didn't have a 'knight in shining armour,' or whatever one would call Kaz.

Maybe it didn't have to be that way.

"Hey, what's your name?" Jesper asked carefully.

Wylan lifted his head up from where he was curled in a ball to see another kid his age standing there, grinning at him.

"W-Wylan…" Wylan said through sniffles.

"That's a nice name! You can call me Jesper," the boy told him.

"Yours is nice too," Wylan told him.

"Thanks!" 

Wylan wiped his nose on his sleeve. "What- what're you doing here?"

Wylan watched as 'Jesper' walked over to the generator. "I heard you needed a friend. So what're you up to?"

Wylan's face fell. "It doesn't matter, I can't do it anyway," he said. 

The letters on the keypad danced around like the particularly drunk patrons at the Crow Club, and even if they were able to stand still for long enough for Wylan to remember their places it wasn't like he could spell anything with them.

"Tell me anyway," Jesper said to him.

"Well- I'm supposed to fix this generator for my friends, but I can't put in the password," Wylan admitted. In a quiet voice he added, "because I don't know how to read…"

Useless useless useless useless-

"What if we did it together?" Jesper suggested.

"What?" Wylan asked. He'd assumed he'd leave once he'd heard of his problem. Everyone else did.

"I'm no good at guessing passwords, so if you could tell me what to write I'll tell you what buttons to press," Jesper clarified.

"R-really?"

"Why not? So, uh, why don't we start with something basic, like whoever owns this place?" 

"Yuxuan Yul-Wu," Wylan told him shyly.

Jesper had to bite his tongue before he made a quip about having no idea how to spell it either, and gave it his best shot. This was in Wylan's head anyway. "First, press the sixth button from the right on the first row…"

Wylan followed his instructions, and once he typed in all the letters he pressed submit.

Nothing happened.

"Shit!" Wylan cursed.

"It's ok," Jesper assured him, "we just have to try another one."

Wylan nodded, and thus began giving Jesper passwords to try and putting them in with his guidance.

After a few attempts he still wasn't in. 

"Nothing's working!" 

"That's fine," Jesper told him, though he was starting to get worried- he was losing faith in this plan.

"No it's not!" Wylan snapped, "we're not going to get what we need and it's all my fault!"

The Jesper that was in the room with him frowned. "Is that what you think?"

Wylan nodded.

"Well what I think is that without you, we wouldn't have even made it this far," Jesper told him. "In fact, if it weren't for you, we would've probably been jailed way before now."

"But I can't-"

"I don't care what you can't do! In fact, if you woke up tomorrow and didn't know how to do chemistry, how to draw, how to play music, how to do anything, I would still be here."

Wylan blinked. "Why?"

"Why?" Jesper scoffed as if he'd said something stupid, "because you, Wylan Van Eck, are the most amazing person in the whole world. I love you."

"You've only just met me," Wylan reminded him.

Jesper winked at him. "Come on, Merchling, you wouldn't forget this handsome face, would you?"

And suddenly Wylan wasn't twelve years old anymore, he was seventeen and so was Jesper and they'd broken into and out of the Ice Court together.

And he wasn't useless.

Jesper heard Wylan scramble back over to the generator. "What're you trying now?"

"When in doubt; try one two three four."

It wasn't a number pad, but maybe that was the point- a password no one would guess because it wasn't actually a word. He pressed the first four buttons on the first row, and pressed submit.

To his delight the panel swung open, revealing the wires underneath. "It worked!"

"My man!" Jesper celebrated.

Wylan got to work on fixing up the generator.

***

Kaz was drowning. If he didn't come up with a solution fast he was going to die here, and Kaz Brekker was not going to die. Not like this.

He flailed around, searching for something to grab onto. He found something floating in the water, but his celebrations were short lived when he realised what it was.

A scream escaped his lips as he swam backwards, his brother's dead eyes watching him as he did. He frantically searched the horizon for the coast line, but it was too dark to make out anything.

He saw something else floating further in the water, and decided to take his chances of using that for a raft. 

What he found made him wish he'd stayed at Jordie's side, as Inej's lifeless form floated in front of him. Kaz thrashed in the water, and all around him the corpses of everyone he'd come rely on and care for bobbed silently as he cried out. 

His lungs burned as his erratic breathing let the seawater in, and he struggled to stay above water.

Matthias was stumped. The others used kind words to get Inej and Wylan out of their own heads, but without a semblance of what Kaz was facing, Matthias wouldn't even know where to begin.

"Demjin, there's no water in there with you," he tried, but he got no reaction.

He turned to Nina, who just shrugged him off. "I need to make sure Inej stays awake, you'll figure something out."

How helpful…

He needed to think. The room was filling with water, why?

Was he afraid of drowning? No, Matthias had seen him get into water with relative ease before. So it was a symbol for something…

Matthias wondered if it could be the unexpected, but things always went wrong in their plans, and Kaz was great at adapting-

Wait.

What if he was reliving a time where he didn't have control? 

"Kaz, it's going to be ok, this is only temporary," Matthias said in an attempt at a soothing voice. Unsurprisingly, it did not work.

This was taking too long, and Matthias did not have the patience to try every combination of kind words to see which ones would land.

"Brekker!" He barked, "I get that you're scared, but right now you have a job to do!

"If you want to save your friends and your paycheck you're going to have to quit your whining and divert the damn power!"

Kaz startled at that. "God… don't tell me you're actually real…" 

"Yes, you should find religion," Matthias told him, "but that's not why I'm here right now. People are relying on you and if you don't flick the switch we're going to be in a lot of trouble."

"But-"

"No buts. You are Dirtyhands, you broke into the Ice Court, took down a member of the Merchant Council and a Barrel boss all without giving a shit about what other people told you. A little swim is nothing in comparison to all of that, and if you let that stop you then you are not the man I thought you were, Demjin."

Kaz's panic subsided just enough for him to remember what he was doing. He had a job to do, and he wasn't going to let some ghosts stop him.

His feet found solid ground again, and when he opened his eyes he was once again in the seed storage facility, dry as a bone, without a corpse in sight.

"Helvar," he muttered, "you've got some nerve speaking to me like that."

Matthias scoffed as he heard Kaz's footsteps, and while he stumbled once or twice he made it to the necessary switches and flicked them on.

Matthias heard the metal clang of doors flying open, but his victory was short lived as he heard the sound of something heavy hitting the floor over the comms, followed by the sound of his cane clattering to the floor.

"The doors are open," Matthias said.

"But we're too late," Nina told him, "they're all in comas."

***

"How did you deal with this on the farm?" Matthias asked.

"I don't know, I've never seen this happen before!" Jesper exclaimed.

"Surely there's something," Nina pressed.

"Um-" Jesper raked through his memories for something that could help- "jurda is a natural blood thinner?" He suggested.

"Yes!" Nina exclaimed. "And we have access to the vault, we could crush up some seeds and feed it to them!"

"One question; how do we get through the facility without suffering the same fate as the others?" Matthias asked.

"We run really fast?" Jesper suggested.

Nina rummaged around the room until she found a box of paper masks. "Aha!"

"Will those work…?" Jesper asked.

"Well they'll be better than rawdogging it," she said as she handed them out. "Just try not to breathe too much."

"Noted…" Matthias said as he put his mask on his face.

The trio then made their way to the vault as hastily as they could. 

They pushed open the heavy door to the main vault, and they allowed themselves to breathe normally as there weren't any vents in there as far as they could see.

Jesper hurried off to get the seeds, having already checked to see where they were in the record room as that's what they were there to get in the first place.

Meanwhile Nina got some water and a small tray to mix up the seed dust in. 

When Jesper returned, he poured a handful of seeds into the tray. "Do we have anything to grind them up with-"

Before he could finish, Matthias grabbed one of Jesper's guns and used the handle to grind up the seeds. 

As Nina poured the mixture into a plastic bag Matthias handed it back. "Thank you."

Jesper was not impressed.

"Come on!" Nina instructed, and the three rushed out to save the others.

They hurried back into the ergot filled hallways, and first they found Inej.

Nina gently tilted the bag so that the jurda seed mix went into Inej's mouth, and it didn't take long until her eyes shot open. "What the-"

"Come on, we've got to go," Nina encouraged, helping her to her feet. "Put this on."

Inej quickly put the mask on without question and hurried after them.

Next was Wylan, and as he came to he gasped. "Did-"

"Welcome back Merchling," Jesper said, grinning under his mask. "Now let's go."

Finally they found Kaz, and after Nina poured it into his mouth the first he did was push himself away from her. "Don't touch me."

Nina rolled her eyes. "You're welcome. Here." She threw the mask at him.

Kaz put it on and it didn't take long before they all exited the building.

Jesper pulled the mask from his face. "Can we all agree that we're never doing that again?"

"Definitely," Inej agreed and Wylan nodded enthusiastically.

"Come on, we have a boat to catch," was all Kaz said as he picked up his pace.

Inej sped up to match her gait with his. "You good?"

The boy glanced at her. "I will be. You?"

Inej let out a shaky breath. "Same."

Kaz nodded.

"…Nina pretended to be you to get me out, you know."

Kaz raised his eyebrows at that. "Really now?"

She nodded. "Yeah…"

Kaz considered this. "I saw you. Back there."

It was Inej's turn to give him a curious look.

"I'm- I don't tell you I value you enough. All of you."

Inej smiled at the gruff compliment. "Me too."

Meanwhile, Jesper nudged Wylan's shoulder. "How're you holding up?"

Wylan shrugged. "I'll live."

Jesper grabbed his hand. "Well amn't I lucky then?"

Wylan rolled his eyes.

"You know, cause I'm lucky that you're alive-"

"Yeah, I got that much," Wylan informed him, a small smile forming on his lips.

"Seriously though, you're like, the bravest guy I know," Jesper told him.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

As the pair spoke sweet words to each other, Nina glanced at Matthias. "So what was it Kaz was scared of?"

Matthias frowned. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Nina was incredulous, "how did you get him out?"

"I gave him some stern words."

Nina blinked. "You gave him some stern words."

"Yes," Matthias answered, nodding sagely as he said so.

Nina burst out laughing, much to Matthias' offense.

"Of course you did."

"Hey, you have no room to judge, Dirtyhands."

Matthias smirked as Nina turned away to hide her red face. "We don't speak of that."

"Whatever you say. Demjin."

"Stop!"

It was Matthias' turn to laugh as she swatted her hand at him.

As the crew boarded their boat, the sun rose on the the horizon, breaking through the darkness of night and filling the sky with the light of day.

[brandwhorestarscream]

more tf1 cybermorphs? yes please 🙏 pax got got by one of the snake morphlings cuz for some reason no one in an alien movie can resist poking at the eggs... what next?

are the baby morphs based on the hammerpedes of covenant? they give me that vibe

Aksjskaka ok you're not gonna believe me, but no, the morphlings aren't actually based on the hammerpedes. I actually had the idea of them hatching in larva form to differentiate them from the drones several weeks before I actually watched Covenant or Prometheus for the first time. I was so sad when I finally watched it and found out it's already been done XD like I thought I was being sooo creative and original, but no :') rip. On the plus side it just makes the parallels between the species more apparent, so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm not too mad

AS FOR OUR RESIDENT DUMBASS. Yeah aksjskaka you'd think he'd know better, but like. Come on. It's Orion. We all know that's exactly what he would do

Orion goes down screaming and by the time Elita and Bee run over, the morphling has already slithered fully inside and disappeared into his fuel tank. Even Elita's lightning fast reflexes aren't enough to stop the larva that comes darting at her, and B-127's stream of terrified babble is cut off immediately after as the third one swiftly follows suit.

Orion is the one who wakes up first, as you can expect. Suddenly he's blasted with consciousness and he flies into an upright position, servos slapping and scrabbling at his face, spark pulsing in panic. What was that, what was that, oh Primus-

Then, his optics fall on the prone form of D-16. He's bigger now, much bigger, and so different. He's lying there in what Orion can only assume is his alt mode, and it's unlike any mode he's ever seen before. His- His legs have changed so now his knees bend backwards. Digitigrade, that's the word, his disguntled processor distantly supplies. There's these things jutting out of his back, long, tubelike structures, and there's an extra, tiny pair of arms sprouting out from his chassis. His helm has changed drastically, and lying on his side Orion can see there's a long, strange crest now framing and protecting him. His face remains, peaking out from the guards, frightfully still. When he hesitantly grabs Dee's servo, it's got six fingers, and is cold. Too cold.

"Dee?" Orion carefully shakes him. He doesn't move. Doesn't so much as twitch. Orion stared at his chassis, and realizes he's not moving. At all. He can't hear the hum of his systems, can't hear his ventillation system. "Dee...? Dee?! Hey, c-come on, wake up! Answer me... Dee! Dee please, wake up, y-you have to wake up! Dee! DEE!"

Desperate, he shakes the other mech's shoulders, but there's still no response. Tears burn at Orion's optics and he drops his audial onto D-16's chassis. Optics closed tight, he gulps and listens as closely as he can, trying to calm the frightened wheezing of his own vents. Please, please, please let his spark still be there...! "Please," he begs, curling over him. "Please, Primus... don't take him away! Not like this! I- I wasn't even here for him!"

Behind him, B-127 suddenly jerks online with yowling and full body flailing, "GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GETITOFF-!" he rolls twice in the dirt and comes up on his knees, servos pressing into his chassis and patting at his face. "What was that oh my Primes what was that thing ohmyPrimus Orion you're ok what happened what attacked us wha-"

"SHHHHH!" Orion doesn't mean to snap, but he's trying not to panic. He presses his fingers to D-16's neck, to his wrist, anywhere he thinks he might be able to find evidence of a sparkpulse. "Shhh, Bee please! I- I gotta-"

Bee covers his mouth with both hands, optics wide and horrified as he sees D-16's state. "Is..." he whispers. "Is he...?!"

"I dunno, I- I don't know! Dee, please, don't do this to me! I need you, don't you know how much I need you?! Dee, come on-"

B-127 hesitantly crawls over, shuffling on his knees, tears already glossing over his optics. For once he's speechless, looking over their friend horrific, comatose form. He digs out another tiny block of energon and holds ot out to Orion, hoping that... that maybe...?

Orion snatches it, desperate, and when he goes to open D-16's mouth he finds... Primus, he doesn't even know what it is. His glossa is thicker, longer, more rectangular, and appears to have teeth on the end! There's no time to ponder though, he just squishes the energon between his fingers and carefully slips it into his mouth, lifting his helm so it'll get down his throat to his fuel siphon, and then-

D-16's body jerks and he suddenly gives a low, torturous groan of pain, tears emerging from beneath his optic lids before he's even fully online. "Ow-!" He yelps, hoarse snd throat. "Ow ow ow-"

"DEE!" Orion throws his arms around him and D-16 all but wails in pain. "Oh Dee, thank goodness, you're ok-"

"I am NOT ok!" He whimpers. "It hurts, it hurts, g-get off me, pleeeaaase!"

"Oh-! I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Orion relinquishes his hold and D-16 goes limp on the cave floor. He's panting shallowly, and the tubes on his back expand and contract with every breath. He clenches his teeth, jaw visibly trembling as he sobs in sheer, torturous exhaustion. "Wh..." he coughs and winces. "What happened? I feel like... I'm d- d-dying!"

"You're not dying, y-you're gonna be just fine!" Orion promises, hesitating only a moment before grabbing his hand. "We- Alpha Trion, he- it doesn't matter, I'm here now, we're all here, we're gonna help you-"

Suddenly, Orion coughs. His expression turns pinched. His free hand drifts up to touch his chassis, and he coughs. A droplet of glowing blue energon spatters at the corner of his mouth, and his optics widen. "I... don't feel- HGK-!"

The emergence has begun.

[tinydefector]

hi!! 🐈 first time asking for a request on a blog huhu so I hope I'm doing it right 😭

mind if I slip in a fluffy request with coppy prowl? him being more handsy and just overall touch-starved than usual with their human and he's embarrassed of asking for the touches so he's got this disconcerting look on his face + a hundred yard stare when their human is close

(⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

Klik Away pt3

Heheheh this worked a little to well for the part three and since you lot made me a simp, enjoy some simpy touch staved Prowl.

Warnings: swearing

Word count: 2k

Prowl masterlist

Chapter1,

Chapter2

Chapter4

___________________

Nearly a week later, Prowl had gotten used to the human's presence well enough, still having arguments with them here and there but most times they kept to themself or hassled Green while he worked. "Prowl, can we go out today, I'm getting sick of being locked up in here" they state softly. They look up at the enforcer with pleading eyes. One more Luna cycle that's all he would have to wait to be rid of the human.

Prowl cycled a ventilation as he registered his human's request, systems conflicted. He didn't need to be chasing them around if they got lost while out in the city, but he also could see they were getting rather agitated being locked up for so long. 

One lunar cycle remained until they would no longer be under his care. 

"Very well," he agreed at last, calculating most protected opportunities for their enrichment and safety. Rising carefully, Prowl lifts them up before carrying them to the door, once outside he transforms. 

His engine purred low as seatbelts strapped the human safely inside the cabin. "Remain still and do not interfere with vehicle functions," Prowl instructed calmly. "We will explore briefly before returning by duskfall, don't try anything"

He Guided them through less populated streets at a crawling pace, enjoying fleeting wonder lighting tiny eyes absorbing alien scenery. Yet enjoyment lingered in his system watching them as they pressed up against the window. They were ecstatic, eyes watching the scenery of the city, market in awe, it was like nothing they had ever seen before, nothing like earth and nothing like the warehouse they had been kept in.

 "Woah I didn't realise everything was so... big" they state softly.

Prowl's engine purred in quiet amusement as they vocalised awe at the sights. Cybertronian towers on vast scales inconceivable to humanity,  no wonder such vistas stunned one so young and unfamiliar with alien marvels.

"Yes, our world differs vastly from your tiny backwater planet," Prowl rumbled agreeably. 

Slowly navigating less crowded areas finding a decent spot to stop so that they could wander the markets.

Don't be a dick!" They huff while lightly slapping his steering wheel. As they climb out of his alte mode they look around in fascination, they stay close to him as he transforms and stands at full height. He bends down to lift them up before he starts walking with them.

Prowl cycled an irate ventilation at the organic's impudence, doors flicking irritation.

" Watch it, and Remain still," he instructed gently, "Do not squirm or endanger yourself through careless movements."

Striding through orderly thoroughfares, Prowl narrated landmarks in slow, simple terms ensuring his human was securely held. Others stared at the unlikely duo, many pointed and whispered as they watched them stride through the marketplace. 

 Strangers found strange peace as they navigate the market's, The two of them draw many optics as they argue softly between themselves, the human pointing at things and asking questions and Prowl reluctantly answering,  he has to on multiple times catch them from slipping off his arm. "What are those?" They call out. 

“ Energon vendors, they supply different types of energon and tops” he states, the stalls overflowing with glowing cubes, spiels of alien beverages music, their eyes dance across the many pretty coloured cubes. “Do different colours taste different?” The inquiry. Prowl gives a nod as he approaches the stall. He stops to talk to the vendor and it's the first time they really listen to him speak cybertronian, it's very different from when he speaks to them. a cube of energon with a silver liquid added into it is passed to him. "What's that, I know its energon but what is in it?" They ask, they know what it is but they are curious over the other stuff added into it.

Prowl accepted the glowing cube from the vendor with a polite nod. Sipping the fuel gradually across his glossa, he savoured the blend of it. “This is a standard mid-grade energon blended with gallium, it's how I enjoy energon," Prowl explained evenly, angling the cube for tiny eyes to perceive colours swirling within." The bright glowing Pink fluid “ “ occasionally i like having iridium and strontium to boost fuel efficiency and spark potential. every more rarely ill have high grade with crushed crystal" he watches as their eyes land on another stall. 

“ thats a Self-repair kiosks, it's where bots go to get new or spare parts,nanite, mesh patching, solvents for mending”  

“ that stall is Cultural archive filled Holobooks narrating millennials, these days they mainly recount the war to newer bots, puzzles to help enhancing logical processing” 

Prowl scolds as he looks away from said stall. “Don't like history?” They perk up in a teasing tone. “You wouldn't like it if it last millions of years either Rabbit” he grumbles before walking down another pathway. 

“ that's Upgraders, Body modifications, weaponry installations, plating polishes,” the stall is rather large gleaming under neon signs, it showcases shiny and polished gear. “So is it like a car wash or do you like remove your plating and put on new plating?” 

“you buy new plating and can trade in older models, markets don't have washes, those are reserved for housing or as you would call it a wash house” he confirmed while taking another mouthful of his energon. 

Prowl gives a slight nod to another bot who returns it to him before continuing patrol. 

“ Those are Enforcer dispatch, Fellow security forces patrolling, making sure we don't have circuitors, thieves and other dangers around.” The next stall he points to is filled with what looked like air conditioning. 

“ Climate regulators, we use these to regulate temperature, cybertronian naturally run a lot hotter than your species and are prone to melting without regulation” . It's fascinating learning for the human before their eyes meet another stall, they give a puzzled look before speaking up as they point towards it. “What's that?” 

The stall is filled with Sleek forms, ads playing that look very similar to adult shop banners. Prowl is quick to cover their eyes, hissing out before walking another direction. “Hey!” They grumble trying to look under his servo. “I am not taking you into an interface stall” he nearly snarls. They drop the subject quickly. 

 Its quiet between them for a long moment before he speaks up again “foreign collectors'' he motions towards the stall. Another cycle closer to reality hits him, did humans even know what interfacing was, had he just caused a scene over something they didn't understand.  

His processor noted their interest light upon spying stalls overflowing with alien fruits, grains and flora. Amusement tingled Prowl's circuits to witness how their eyes seemed to like up in awe.

"Those vendors trade planetary Flora harvested from the crystal gardens, or off world planets" he advised, angling a pat towards the stall. 

"They have those bugs you get for Green" they state while trying to climb onto the table, they look around at a few of what look like fruits. Prowl's scanners swept the crawling insectoids within bins, analysing nutritional values for his pet. Optics inspected wriggling broods at his mere fraction of size, some glistening and hardy, others feeble and malformed. His logs assessed ratios ensuring they were the right dietary requirements her. 

"These appear suitably Green's" Prowl concluded to himself, optics flicker to his companion who looks over the fruit's, he calls out, catching the merchant's attention. 

Once he had received the container he reaches over and grabs a few of the fruits to add to the collection. “add them to my account”. 

The human gasps as Prowl picks them back up along with the container of food for Green and a small collection of the fruits for the human. "Hey I was looking!" They grumble as he halls them closer to his chassis as he takes off walking again. Storing the newly bought stuff in his subspace storage. He finished his cube of energon, discarding it in a bin before using his servo to keep the human steady against his chassis.

Amusement tingled through Prowl's frame as his tiny passenger grumbled irritably from being moved, too quickly distracted by alien environs surpassing tiny comprehension. "Forgive the disruption, Rabbit," Prowl soothed gently. Striding through thinning crowds, Prowl gazed down at miniature eyes peering back without fear, curiously tracing armoured plating of his face. his engine thrummed a low, protective purr. 

It's a peaceful trip back, Prowl ends up walking the full trip back, Striding through emptying streets towards the hab dome His small company ended up snuggled against his body, eyes flickering occasionally. They continue softly chatting as they point out at the building asking about what they were. Arriving within the sealed complex, he prodded the giant doors aside and strode gratefully into the quiet safety of shielded walls. Spying Green curled upon a pile of fabric. playing idly, Prowl extended a digit just brushing his the Flyt's head in greeting before angling optics downward. 

His passenger remained in peaceful recharge, tiny breaths puffing relaxed against ancient plating keeping them warm.Prowl deposits his items onto the 'kitchen' bench

Prowl cradled the human closer, striding towards his berth with strange contentment curling his spark, puzzling his processor at fleeting peace, he arranged the human upon berth cushions with utmost care, ensuring to gently wrap them in their blanket, fragile limbs securely for continued recharge undisturbed. 

Retrieving datapads loaded with pending reports, Prowl settled upon the floor nearby to scan logs and organise filing through the coming off-cycles, continually monitoring tiny life signs within, he wouldn't admit it ever but some small part of him worried over them in the cold room. 

Sideswipe mocks him for his "distractions" over comm. Yet Prowl snaps at him for his words but doesn't argue or defend himself; simply he hangs up so he can continue his reports. Green chirped contentedly as she curls up against the human sleeping on the bed. 

Prowl worked through the part of night cycle, Despite steel discipline perfected over millennia on the battlefield, Prowl found himself defeated by the strange pull tugging him toward where small life forms slumbered peacefully. Heaving a ventilation, the Enforcer gathered datapads and rose, striding to his berth. 

Laying gingerly so as not to disturb rest, Prowl retrieved work and centred it upon armoured plates, their body nestled closer as his engine purred low. Strange ease washed over him, Comm lines engaged fellow officers without disrupting the human, Prowl reviewed reports scrawled across datapads balanced upon humming chestplates. At times powerful digits brushed delicately  against the form sleeping beside him. 

Prowl's engine idled into stunned silence as they nestled closer still in peaceful recharge, their face pressing into the warmth of his side, His programming stuttered, confronted by such delicate vulnerability expressed without fear against plating forged through vorns wading raging battlefields. No creature so soft and fragile should trust so completely in servos designed solely for destruction. 

Yet this small being sensed no danger, merely comfort, Trust was Prowl was attached. 

His engine finally crooned deep vibrations so long stifled, the deep purr had them clinging to him. Face pressed closer. He relished fleeting peace redefining his role however contradictory to function. Too soon, reality demanded separate paths to resume.

"Primus I don't think I can let you go now" He whispers against their skin.

Prowl's vocalizer emitted a staticky murmur. His systems ached for the soft touch they provided, the banter, they challenged him in so many ways. Yet Prowl grieved, releasing tender buds nurtured from unlikely seeds sown through fleeting chance alone. Programming struggled comprehending how a mere human had done this to him.  

Tiny breaths echoed trust against ancient cabling deafened rationality. Here, together, strange peace reigned. Yet bitter facts compelled reality. One Luna cycle was all he had to cherish this, less he convinced them to stay, but even then what was the need for humans to permanently stay on Cybertron, what loopholes would he have to exploit just to keep them by his side. 

[rottenpumpkin13]

What does the AGZSC do when they suddenly meet Darkstar in a corridor and Darkstar is running towards them and barking as if it'd caught rabies?

*Considering how it doesn't matter if they're on the 49th floor, no one can attack the VP's dog lest they face immediate termination or paperwork hell

Angeal: Doesn't even flinch, immediately reaches for his PHS and proceeds to play that one video of a squirrel waterskiing that somehow calmed Zack down during his mako fever delirium. "Here, look at this small rodent performing unnecessary aquatic activities... works every time on hyperactive puppies." Darkstar tilts its head in confusion, momentarily distracted by tiny waterskiing squirrel. Angeal makes an escape. Problem solved.

Genesis: Whips out Loveless like a holy weapon, holding it before him as if warding off evil: "In the name of the Goddess I command thee—" Proceeds to perform an exorcism. "—Spirits of Act I, cleanse this beast! By the power of Verse 23, Line 5, I banish thee, foul entity!" *places one hand on Darkstar's head while furiously flipping pages with the other* "The gift of the Goddess compels you!"

Lazard walks in on this and proceeds to book a psychiatrist appointment. Not for Genesis. For himself. He needs stronger meds.

Zack: Goes into full puppy-meets-puppy mode, dropping to all fours. "Hey buddy! What's wrong?" When he realizes that he is, in fact, in mortal peril, Zack starts barking at Darkstar as if he speaks dog. Darkstar is both offended and confused, then turns around and trots off, leaving Zack still in full dog mode, panting and growling at thin air. "Yeah! That's right, you better run!"

Sephiroth: Simply stops in his tracks and engages in an unblinking staring contest with Darkstar. The dog gradually slows down until it comes to a full stop before him. "......" The silence is somehow more intimidating than any threat could be. Darkstar whimpers and sits, recognizing a more dominant predator.

Cloud: Takes one look at the situation, immediately identifies the nearest ventilation shaft, climbs up with the agility of a caffeinated raccoon, peers down from the vent: "I'll just... yeah. Good luck with that. I'm technically not even supposed to be on this floor anyway."