Something Clever

Multifandom blog in spite of first appearances. Over abundance of tagging trends that don't always pan out. Currently in the business of trying to Figure Things Out.

[renaroo]

The Memory Maze (10/12)

Warnings: Timeline fuckery, Later robot sex, Continuity is more like a suggestion and I suggest you worry less about it for this one Pairings: Arcee/Hot Rod/Springer Rating: T Synopsis: With the most immediate leaking addressed, Springer begins to scan the area, including the wreckage. Information seeking is a good way to deal with the situation while ignoring the pressing signal from his processor that has been nagging him from the start. Springer doesn’t remember what was happening before the crash. He isn’t sure why the crash happened. He doesn’t know who is supposed to be here with him, if anyone. He doesn’t know where here is supposed to be. And he doesn’t know what his mission is. The last part isn’t entirely true. A/N: So one of my goals is to get this fic finished before school starts back at the end of August. Considering that there are 2 chapters left after this one I would HOPE that’s possible, but we’ll see haha I am so very sorry for how long this fic is taking to finish. In my (not a good) defense, I have been writing tons of stuff with my lovely fiance, some of which is finally seeing the light of day in our fic “I could even learn how to love (like you)” which has regular Wednesday updates and is already done with a 3-part prologue and first chapter. I’m determined to bang out these last two chapters! Fortunately Hot Rod pov usually comes a LOT easier to me than Springer and Arcee. UNfortunately one of the parts meant to be one of the flashback sequences ended up taking on such a life of its own I might have to publish it as a one-shot or something bc it no longer fits with The Memory Maze and is already 6.5k lmao

Chapter 10: Stuck Together

After Grimlock’s chomp, the interconnected webbing tears to shreds where Springer had once been between them, leaving a curtain of sticky silk on both sides, wildly swinging and taking its contents – Arcee and Hot Rod – with them. Their cries for Springer die out quickly in favor of the clattering of metal against metal when Arcee and Hot Rod’s respective pendulums strike a harmony at the center. 

The collision jolts Arcee from her peds to her optics, sending a wave of sensornet shocks and a garbling of static across both her visual and audio fields. By the time systems can cooperate again, she realizes some of her body that had been trapped in the web before are now free, albeit covered in threads. The rest of her body has a new problem, though. 

“MMMMPPPPPHHH!!!” Arcee grits out as loudly as she can with her faceplate smashed and held in place against the back of a very familiar thigh which is pulsing its biolights in irritation and heating up in embarrassment. Which really isn’t fair. Arcee should probably have the privilege of being embarrassed in this particular case.

Continue to AO3 —>

[renaroo]

Chapters: 4/42 Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jazz/Prowl (Transformers), Prowl & Springer (Transformers), Elita One & Prowl (Transformers), Jazz & Optimus Prime Characters: Prowl (Transformers), Jazz (Transformers), Springer (Transformers), Smokescreen (Transformers), Bluestreak (Transformers), Ariel (Transformers), Elita One (Transformers), Orion Pax, Optimus Prime, Ratchet (Transformers), Dion (Transformers), Ultra Magnus (Transformers), Sentinel Prime (Transformers), Proteus (Transformers), Red Alert (Transformers) Additional Tags: Postpartum Depression, Secret Babies, Transformer Sparklings, Mental Health Issues, Indentured Servitude, Pre-Cybertronian Civil War, Slow Burn, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Minor Character Death, Minor Elita One/Optimus Prime/Ultra Magnus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

Prowl of Petrex has signed himself over to the Primacy as an indentured servant. His contract, however unreasonable, seems worth weathering after the fall of Praxus in exchange for the safety of his only remaining family. He knows he’s likely to spend the rest of his life beneath the boot of the Prime, will never grow his family, and will be a footnote in the history books. But when Prowl is presented with the rare opportunity to renegotiate his contract with the Primacy, he leaps at the chance. The price of freedom, however, may be steep…

Meanwhile, Jazz keeps himself busy these days as part of the ragtag group of revolutionaries who have been drawn to a charismatic young archivist by the name of Orion Pax. He’s been working on the outskirts of the Cybertronian caste system his entire life, and has a lifetime of tricks from just about every trade. Being Orion Pax’s righthand mech is a hard enough job, but it only gets harder when the unrest comes to a head, changing all of their lives at once, and putting Jazz at the center of the very system he has fought against…

And then, of course, that’s not even bringing up the illegal sparkling, Senator Proteus’s machinations, or Prowl’s TacNet acting strangely.

[secretlystephaniebrown]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 3/42 Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jazz/Prowl (Transformers), Prowl & Springer (Transformers), Elita One & Prowl (Transformers), Jazz & Optimus Prime Characters: Prowl (Transformers), Jazz (Transformers), Springer (Transformers), Smokescreen (Transformers), Bluestreak (Transformers), Ariel (Transformers), Elita One (Transformers), Orion Pax, Optimus Prime, Ratchet (Transformers), Dion (Transformers), Ultra Magnus (Transformers), Sentinel Prime (Transformers), Proteus (Transformers), Red Alert (Transformers) Additional Tags: Postpartum Depression, Secret Babies, Transformer Sparklings, Mental Health Issues, Indentured Servitude, Pre-Cybertronian Civil War, Slow Burn, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Minor Character Death, Minor Elita One/Optimus Prime/Ultra Magnus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

Prowl of Petrex has signed himself over to the Primacy as an indentured servant. His contract, however unreasonable, seems worth weathering after the fall of Praxus in exchange for the safety of his only remaining family. He knows he’s likely to spend the rest of his life beneath the boot of the Prime, will never grow his family, and will be a footnote in the history books. But when Prowl is presented with the rare opportunity to renegotiate his contract with the Primacy, he leaps at the chance. The price of freedom, however, may be steep…

Meanwhile, Jazz keeps himself busy these days as part of the ragtag group of revolutionaries who have been drawn to a charismatic young archivist by the name of Orion Pax. He’s been working on the outskirts of the Cybertronian caste system his entire life, and has a lifetime of tricks from just about every trade. Being Orion Pax’s righthand mech is a hard enough job, but it only gets harder when the unrest comes to a head, changing all of their lives at once, and putting Jazz at the center of the very system he has fought against…

And then, of course, that’s not even bringing up the illegal sparkling, Senator Proteus’s machinations, or Prowl’s TacNet acting strangely.

Last chapter of the prologue! We did not plan to do a three part prologue when we started outlining but it got so long we decided to split it up.

But now the dominoes are just about all set up, and it’s time to start knocking things down!

[renaroo]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 2/42 Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jazz/Prowl (Transformers), Prowl & Springer (Transformers), Elita One & Prowl (Transformers), Jazz & Optimus Prime Characters: Prowl (Transformers), Jazz (Transformers), Springer (Transformers), Smokescreen (Transformers), Bluestreak (Transformers), Ariel (Transformers), Elita One (Transformers), Orion Pax, Optimus Prime, Ratchet (Transformers), Dion (Transformers), Ultra Magnus (Transformers), Sentinel Prime (Transformers), Proteus (Transformers), Red Alert (Transformers) Additional Tags: Postpartum Depression, Secret Babies, Transformer Sparklings, Mental Health Issues, Indentured Servitude, Pre-Cybertronian Civil War, Slow Burn, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Minor Character Death, Minor Elita One/Optimus Prime/Ultra Magnus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

Prowl of Petrex has signed himself over to the Primacy as an indentured servant. His contract, however unreasonable, seems worth weathering after the fall of Praxus in exchange for the safety of his only remaining family. He knows he’s likely to spend the rest of his life beneath the boot of the Prime, will never grow his family, and will be a footnote in the history books. But when Prowl is presented with the rare opportunity to renegotiate his contract with the Primacy, he leaps at the chance. The price of freedom, however, may be steep…

Meanwhile, Jazz keeps himself busy these days as part of the ragtag group of revolutionaries who have been drawn to a charismatic young archivist by the name of Orion Pax. He’s been working on the outskirts of the Cybertronian caste system his entire life, and has a lifetime of tricks from just about every trade. Being Orion Pax’s righthand mech is a hard enough job, but it only gets harder when the unrest comes to a head, changing all of their lives at once, and putting Jazz at the center of the very system he has fought against…

And then, of course, that’s not even bringing up the illegal sparkling, Senator Proteus’s machinations, or Prowl’s TacNet acting strangely.

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Chapters: 1/42 Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jazz/Prowl (Transformers), Prowl & Springer (Transformers), Elita One & Prowl (Transformers), Jazz & Optimus Prime Characters: Prowl (Transformers), Jazz (Transformers), Springer (Transformers), Smokescreen (Transformers), Bluestreak (Transformers), Ariel (Transformers), Elita One (Transformers), Orion Pax, Optimus Prime, Ratchet (Transformers), Dion (Transformers), Ultra Magnus (Transformers), Sentinel Prime (Transformers), Proteus (Transformers), Red Alert (Transformers) Additional Tags: Postpartum Depression, Secret Babies, Transformer Sparklings, Mental Health Issues, Indentured Servitude, Pre-Cybertronian Civil War, Slow Burn, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Minor Character Death, Minor Elita One/Optimus Prime/Ultra Magnus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

Prowl of Petrex has signed himself over to the Primacy as an indentured servant. His contract, however unreasonable, seems worth weathering after the fall of Praxus in exchange for the safety of his only remaining family. He knows he’s likely to spend the rest of his life beneath the boot of the Prime, will never grow his family, and will be a footnote in the history books. But when Prowl is presented with the rare opportunity to renegotiate his contract with the Primacy, he leaps at the chance. The price of freedom, however, may be steep…

Meanwhile, Jazz keeps himself busy these days as part of the ragtag group of revolutionaries who have been drawn to a charismatic young archivist by the name of Orion Pax. He’s been working on the outskirts of the Cybertronian caste system his entire life, and has a lifetime of tricks from just about every trade. Being Orion Pax’s righthand mech is a hard enough job, but it only gets harder when the unrest comes to a head, changing all of their lives at once, and putting Jazz at the center of the very system he has fought against…

And then, of course, that’s not even bringing up the illegal sparkling, Senator Proteus’s machinations, or Prowl’s TacNet acting strangely.

So a few months ago, Hinn texted @renaroo and said “I know I’m working on Autonomous Beings right now but I had an idea about giving Prowl PPD.”

Neither of us expected it to take on quite so much of a life as it did. This thing is going to be long, and get pretty dark. It also takes a lot of liberties with canon and diverges sharply from several points of fanon, so you may catch yourself going “wait that’s not how it happened in IDW” (IDW being our most obvious influence for this AU).

Fandom influences that we’d be remiss without shouting out include “you, me, and the corpse makes three” by madmaenad, which gave us the idea to play with indentured servants as a systemic underclass. There’s probably more that we’re not thinking of off the bat, but we referenced that fic a few times while worldbuilding for this.

We’re hoping to update every Wednesday, and we’ve got a good buffer built up so we’ll be sticking with that for a little while at least.

[renaroo]

Hiya, another YJ 98 fan with a burning question, which female member of the OG YJ would be the best match for Cassie Sandmark as a ship, Anita or Cissie? I can't decide between the two of them

I am always so excited to hear from other Young Justice ’98 fans!!! It is genuinely one of my favorite comic series, and definitely one of my favorite YA comic series, and I absolutely adore those three girls in particular!

Now, I’m tempted to just say porque no los dos, as I do poly ship Cassie, Anita, and Cissie. But I also personally ignore Anita’s parents being reborn as infants and shenanigans leading to her and Cissie being kinda step-sisters ish. Because I may love YJ 98, but like all comics, they sometimes make #mistakes.

However, I know that’s a bit of a copout answer, and especially if someone doesn’t just ignore the weirder bits of the ending of YJ 98, that might be a harder ship to take (even though I think you can do a LOT with Anita/Cissie, given probably Anita deserves better).

I think if I had to pick between the two, I would ultimately choose Anita/Cassie. There is a lot of establishing work with Cissie/Cassie and I do love their relationship a lot, but I think there is something very powerful about how Cassie was more accepting and respectful to Anita when she was joining the Young Justice crew.

To be clear, Cassie should have done more to stick up for Anita. That said, her most important relationship in the team at that time was arguably her relationship with Cissie, and Cassie was willing to call her out on her behavior toward Anita. Which is big for teenagers in these kinds of situations.

[Young Justice (1998-2003) #33]

This same storyline also leads to one of my favorite f/f ship tropes which is when there’s one girl catching another (and it failing but hey it’s the thought that counts lmao)

[Young Justice (1998-2003) #34]

To be fair to Anita, Cassie’s a demigoddess who just got backhanded by a werewolf at full force so there was going to be little that could be done to soften that blow lol

In any case, I think there’s a lot of interesting development that could happen from this point on with Anita and Cassie. I would argue it would be far more interesting and eventful for either of them than the relationships they did get pigeon holed into after this point so...

In any case, my answer is Anita/Cassie/Cissie. My more grounded answer would be Anita/Cassie. But hey we’re not reading superhero comics for grounding.

[renaroo]

Favorite shows game, tagged by @luanna801

rules: make a poll with 10 of your favourite shows, they can just be 10 shows you loved watching or your top tv shows of all time, then tag 10 people 📺

Pick One

Better Call Saul (2015-2022)

Daria (1997-2002)

Frasier (1993-2004)

The Golden Girls (1985-1992)

Outlaw Star (1998-2001)

Planet Earth (2006-2023)

Red vs. Blue (2003-2024)

Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003-2009)

Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001)

Voting ended onJun 10

Tagging: @secretlystephaniebrown, @sroloc--elbisivni , @ladyloveandjustice, @shobogan, @crim-bat, @goodluckdetective, @ephemeraltea, and YOU if you want

[renaroo]

🌹

With her only remaining free limb, Arcee reaches back and flails wildly behind her shoulder until she slaps something that feels vaguely like Hot Rod’s face.

The Memory Maze Chapter 10: Pretty in Pink

for every “🌹” received in my inbox i'll post one random sentence of a random WIP i’m currently writing

[renaroo]

🌹

“Contaminate? Ruin? No, no, no, I would never interfere with the honest pursuit of scientific achievement so crudely,” Tarantulas countered morosely, hanging upside down on the opposite wall. “I merely supplied a new variable to contend with. Why? Do you see something of interest?”

O What a Tangled Web We Weave Chapter 5: The Big Melting Pot

for every "🌹" received in my inbox i'll post one random sentence of a random WIP i'm currently writing

[renaroo]

I don't know if you know but you got a big shout out in ThePandaRedd's newest video all about pre-crisis Jason Todd for helping him suss out timelines and such!!! :D

First off, I am so sorry for not responding this sooner! I meant to respond immediately but I ended up going on vacation and a bunch of other things happened, I totally didn't mean to leave you on read!!!

I had not known! That is so huge and I'm so grateful for you letting me know! Thank you so very much, it very much made my day (and I thoroughly enjoyed the video as well!)

[discocritic]

for every "🌹" received in my inbox i'll post one random sentence of a random WIP i'm currently writing

[makaylajadewrites]

I wanna do this omg

[chimaerakitten]

Hi everyone. So

If you do not like the change that was just made. Send a support ticket and comment on the post and then

Crucially

You should log out of tumblr

We all should

Take a break for a couple of days

Make them see a DRASTIC DIP IN ACTIVITY

Because that more than anything else is going to make them realize this is a bad idea.

Edit to note: you can come back to check if they’ve rolled it back of course but I recommend not *doing* anything. Don’t post new art or reblog memes. Make tumblr a ghost town for ~2-3 days

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

This will be my last post/reblog/anything probably until the weekend. I’m submitting my feedback, stopping my queue, and I’m out for the rest of the work week.

I was hoping to post a fic this week, but if that happens, you won’t hear about it here. Better keep an eye on AO3.

✌️ bye

[renaroo]

The Memory Maze (9/12)

Warnings: Timeline fuckery, Later robot sex, Continuity is more like a suggestion and I suggest you worry less about it for this one Pairings: Arcee/Hot Rod/Springer Rating: T Synopsis: With the most immediate leaking addressed, Springer begins to scan the area, including the wreckage. Information seeking is a good way to deal with the situation while ignoring the pressing signal from his processor that has been nagging him from the start. Springer doesn’t remember what was happening before the crash. He isn’t sure why the crash happened. He doesn’t know who is supposed to be here with him, if anyone. He doesn’t know where here is supposed to be. And he doesn’t know what his mission is. The last part isn’t entirely true. A/N: I know I know, the updates are slow BUUUUT we're in the final round of chapters!! Only three after this one! I don't know WHY Springer's POV fought me so much on this one but hopefully it'll be enjoyable~

Chapter 9: Creeping Crawling

Springer waits quietly in the darkness as his two dearest partners and friends finally, finally calm down enough to stop vibrating the incomprehensibly sticky threads of their entrapment. As he does so, he collects himself to the tune of his own venting and shifts his optics through the various modes of visual aid he was modified to have. With each image, he collects and tags data neatly before storing it away as either confirmation or condemnation. 

After an admittedly impressive full breem of silence, Hot Rod jerks himself and thus the rest of the restraints along with Arcee and Springer. “Well?” he calls out, voice strained from annoyance. 

“‘Well,’ what?” Springer asks, still sorting through images carefully. 

Read More

[renaroo]

2026 Creative Goals!

Tagged by my beloved @secretlystephaniebrown~

Rules: Make a list of every creative project you'd like to tackle next year! It can be anything, from updating a story to starting a new story entirely. Fanart ideas. Wrapping up old projects. Literally any creative endeavor that comes to mind! It doesn't have to be super extensive either. Just whatever you think you'd reasonably like to tackle in the coming year.

Treat it like a checklist, so it's easy to look back and see how much progress you've made. You can even update the list throughout the year if you'd like, to keep yourself accountable :)

Ohohoho very exciting!

First, I want to get in the habit of using tumblr again instead of just lurking around all the time~

I would like to nab Hinn's excellent goal of 700 words per day! I was somewhat doing this with her but I'd like to make it a full goal!

I want to finish The Memory Maze -- it's JUST a few more chapters, self, c'mon, you've got it mostly done. I'd also like to get ReAnimated Pt. 1 finished but that's a bigger stretch goal.

Stealing DIRECTLY from my fiance: Start sharing the Clan Pax Magna AU that @secretlystephaniebrown and I are working on~

Publish some art

Sell some barn quilts

Continue with my calligraphy~

Tagging any of my lovelies who want to share their stretch goal and tag me so I can see~

[goldengirlsgifs]

MERRY CHRISTMAS from THE GOLDEN GIRLS!

2.11 — 'Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas — 20.12.86

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Guess who’s got a fiancé now???? This girl. 💜💍

[renaroo]

what a wild coincidence, I also have a fiancé now!

[renaroo]

@secretlystephaniebrown and I have added a new member to the household and he is going to make sure everyone loves him, even our cat who is determined to establish dominance.