Kaleidoscope Prequel jumped out to me 👀 What's this about?
Soooooooo... Kaleidoscope is actually just what I ended up calling the massive massive mess of headcanon notes of the Cybertron War timeline in Transformers, loosely based around the book Exodus. The initial idea was to follow Bumblebee through the war, as in, "the Cybertron war, as seen through Bumblebee’s kaleidoscope", but the colors and shapes keep changing until nothing makes sense anymore. The working title came from DJ Okawari's music Kaleidoscope.
I never released any of those notes as a fic as my writing skills are just not up for an epic like that. However, these notes are what I consult when writing Aligned/TFP fics and figuring out why a character, well mostly Bumblebee, is the way he is. Or if I need random throw away lines to vaguely reference about the Autobots life on Cybertron.
Now Kaleidoscope Prequel, is called that because it's a "Prequel" to the Kaleidoscope main storyline notes and actually follows Orion Pax before the war, up to the point where Megatron declares war. (So another retelling of Exodus) For this I have most major events outlined, even chapter titles set, even have the first chapter posted (under the final title "Our Last Sunset"), hoping that will make me focus. However it's been hibernating because I couldn't figure out the details of other minor plot points, continuity, character interactions, sprinkled with that thought that maybe I'm pouring too much headcanon into minor things nobody cares about.
Here's a short scene in that wip that I think you might find interesting, since it has Ratchet:
"We sentence you innocent." The Quintesson cackled.
Before the defendant even had the chance to let out a sigh of relief, the floor promptly opened below him, revealing a large pit full of Sharkticons in their primal forms.
The poor Cybertronian did not even have time to scream as he fell into the pit to be torn into pieces by dozens of snapping jaws.
Orion winced, though he managed not to look away. Quintesson trials against Cybertronians were probably the only trials where being pronounced guilty was preferable to innocent.
The footage finally ended with the Quintessons congratulating each other. Feeling vaguely disgusted and wondering if the footage was a genuine recording from the Invasion or just a vid, Orion logged the feed with 'Quintesson', 'Trial', and 'Scary Monsters'.
He paused, replaced the last tag with 'Sharkticon' before submitting.
The next file in the que was all text, which would thankfully take less time to curate. As Orion loaded the file up in his terminal to process it, a message flashed to alert him of an incoming call from Ratchet. Leaving the file to process on its own, Orion took the call.
"Ratchet? What can I do for you?"
Ratchet's voice was dry. "What you can do for me, Orion Pax, is fix up a time for that maintenance you missed so I don't have to worry about you dropping in while I am away from the clinic."
"Do you not have someone to cover for you?"
"You're not trying to avoid me, are you?"
If he had to curate Ratchet’s voice just now, Orion thought he would tag it as “Scary medic” and stand by his decision no matter what Alpha Trion said.
"Of course not, all I meant is that you need not worry."
"Well, you can help me stop worrying by setting up that appointment. Are you free this afternoon?"
Orion glanced at his desk. Judging by the number of datapads, he did not think he would be exactly free this afternoon, but that was the only time he could spare in a while.
Also, can't pass up asking about "Aligned - 8 BB, Ratchet, Raf" :)
I knew you'd be interested in this one XD, and I'm glad you took the bait because this is actually an old idea that I think I told you while we were working on the reverse bigbang -- regarding Bumblebee and his hologram generator.
Essentially, here Bumblebee gets his hologram generator fixed, and because of his inexperience at simulating humans and their hair, ends up scaring more than just humans through uncanny valley effect.
Whether Bumblebee's hologram being broken is the result of the aforementioned fic (and he somehow hid it from Ratchet until much later) or if he had it fixed and then broke it again depends on which option is funnier.
Beginning snippet below cut:
"Second one today. Bumblebee is a star," Raf said. He craned his neck around to grin at Bumblebee, who had been talking to Ratchet and Arcee about something.
Unfortunately, that meant Ratchet also heard it.
"What? What do you mean?" he asked sharply.
"Oh-- nothing. It's just that Bumblebee seems to get caught in these stuff more often."
Which, in his humble opinion, only made sense. Bumblebee and Arcee, being the smallest and possessing vehicles that would better blend in with civilians, were often the ones to go on missions in high-traffic areas. This particular story was submitted by a rookie patrol officer, who claimed to have approached what he thought was an empty car with illegal window tints, and nearly wet himself when the 'empty car' abruptly took off on its own.
Raf pointed this out, but Ratchet was having none of it. He glowered at the yellow scout, whose doorwings dropped.
"Arcee is never caught so carelessly," the medic scolded.
"Actually, Arcee was seen activating her hologram," Jack said. "There was a Creepypasta about her. They just never got the picture to prove it."
"Thanks, Jack. That was so necessary," Arcee replied dryly.
"I scrubbed that too," Raf said. When Ratchet didn't stop glaring, he continued, hoping to defend his friend. "Come on Ratchet, Bumblebee doesn't have a holographic disguise."
At that, Bumblebee's doorwings dropped even further as he made panicked motions at Raf to stop talking. Ratchet looked from Bumblebee to Raf, and then back, effectively freezing the scout. A question not privy to humans was asked and answered.
"What? What’d I say?"
"Didn't you know?" Arcee drawled, clearly enjoying herself as she sipped on a cube of energon like humans would sip on a tea. "Bumblebee actually does have a hologram emitter for the same reason as I do. He just never uses it."
Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able to and see if there are any patterns!
This looks fun!! Thank you for tagging me @onewingedsparrow!
Going by the posting order on AO3 and ignoring Tumblr only fics.
What was it that Cliffjumper said about the rules of warfare?
- Pedal to the Metal
The atmosphere in the club was intoxicating.
- It's all Jazz - Jazz week prompt fill #6 Living the Dream
Prowl looked up from the battle reports at the sound of his office door opening and frowned when Jazz shuffled in.
- It's all Jazz - Jazz week prompt fill #1 Behind the Visor
Prowl didn't care much for human customs.
- Black Wind
It was well past midnight when Prowl finally logged off from his terminal.
- Sleepless Nights
"Let it go, Prowl," Revan had said.
- Simulations, Possibilities, and Choices
The Well was much larger than he remembered.
- Back to Life
Iacon, District seven, sub-level six, hidden between decommissioned shops and abandoned apartments, stands a very old bar.
- Our Last Sunset
"Ratchet?"
- Spark of Courage
"Bulkhead!"
- Do You Like Bees?
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...I like how my two first ever TF fic starts almost exactly the same lol. 9 and 10 are actually my first ever fics in ffnet, which I edited and cross posted on AO3 later. Nice to see I managed to get some variety since.
(Also kind of cheated by picking first and last entry from the Jazz week prompt, but if I didn't pick half of this list would be from those fills)
tagging... anyone who sees this and wants to join in. You can even tag me in the post if you're like me and have social anxiety and feel weird about making these posts without being """officially invited by tags"""
More things in Howl's Moving Castle that the movie left out from the book (spoilers)
Howl and Calcifer have an epic magic duel with the Witch of the Waste over the sea
Howl comes to Sophie's rescue looking like a scarecrow, and Sophie despairs that he's in love with someone else
Sophie makes a magic wand out of a walking stick that even frightens the Witch
And accidentally charms one of Howl's suit and wonders if she's fallen for her own charm
Howl's mentor is a decent lady who is still intimidating but actually cares about him
A customer asks for a difficult spell while only Sophie and Calcifer are inside, and Sophie has to bs her way through selling a fake magic powder (which turns out to actually work)
Sophie rages with a weed killer, terrifying every men and demon in her vicinity
Michael is a teenager who is tired of his adoptive parents' shenanigans
Michael asks for Sophie's help for a homework Howl left him. Neither make any progress.
Sophie is the most sensible adult in the household and has never thought through the consequences of any of her actions ever
Just impulsively read Howl's Moving Castle the book by Diana Wynne Jones and while I do still love Miyazaki's animation rendition of it, the plot and characters in the animation has nothing on the original book.
There's more characters, the plot is tightly woven with the Witch being a legitimate threat, all the main characters are more relatable and hilarious at the same time, and there's a couple extra plot twists by the end even with one of the main mysteries spoiled by the animation. I kinda wish I could forget the plot and read this because I know I would have loved that reveal about 'catching a falling star'.
Even Howl is more likeable because he is ten times as insufferable somehow and that makes the slow reveal that he's actually quite decent and a badass underneath so much more satisfying. He spends the entire book trying to avoid the Witch but then confronts her immediately when she threaten those he loves. There's nothing I don't love about this.
I also love how magic works here, in a much more fantastical way and unexplained yet with rules. It's been a while since I read magic that sucked me in.
Here's a little journey I went through tumblr madness.
The trending tag says Book of Boba Fett, which I'm not too interested aside from keeping occasional tabs on what's going on in SW verse at the moment, because no offense to Temura, Boba Fett was just never a character I was particularly interested in.
But then there's a familiar figure in the top images and the Mandalorian armor in said images are shinier than Boba's, and I realize the guy under that armor is Din, making me confused because did Mandalorian s3 come out while I wasn't looking?
Trekking through the tag a little deeper I see they're about Luke and Grogu and Ahsoka and the old Jedi attachment stuff, a particular Star Wars discourse that I've honestly grown so tired of.
It's vaguely funny seeing that Luke Skywalker apparently lectured Grogu for missing Din. Also what is Ahsoka doing there I thought she was done being a Jedi? I'm so behind on all the lore but I'm not too sure I want to find out because I have a feeling I'm going to be annoyed by it and I have enough things to be annoyed about irl.
Only after hitting backspace do I remember the tag I was going through was The Book of Boba Fett.
I wonder what they are going to do for the actual Mandalorian S3, because at this rate there's not going to be anything left for s3.
Can we all appreciate the power move Din pulls at the end of The Passenger, where he tells Frog Lady to wake him up if they're under attack or if the cockpit’s doors blow off the rails and then reassures her he's kidding because if that happened they'd be DEAD so there’s no need to wake him up. Then he casually says sweet dreams before taking a nap himself while his passenger is freaking out?
Like, we may all die before we even realize it because the ship is in terrible state, but there’s nothing we can do about it except hope for the best, might as well take a nap in the mean time.
I have read three Discworld book focusing on Death and I love how none of them are centered on Death doing his actual work.
I mean,
Mort : Death gets an apprentice and goes on soul searching* by taking odd jobs while his apprentice mess up and the world goes into chaos.
Reaper Man : Death gets fired and goes to work as a hired farmhand while the world goes into chaos.
Hogfather : Death subs for the Hogfather** for one night and finds himself enjoying it while his granddaughter stops the world from going into chaos. (And the world still gets into some chaos because this is Death subbing for the Hogfather)
There are scenes where he does his job, but they’re never the main focus of the story. It’s amazing.
* Metaphorically speaking, of course.
** Discworld’s version of Santa Clause. Think about that.
