#softergoth

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🌻!

behold a beast

[heliopauseentertainments]

For fanfic writer asks: 12, 14!

oh look, it’s another fanfic writer ask game

12. what headcanon will you keep implementing in your fics, even if canon ends up contradicting it?

Let's see, another one. Hm. That Rodimus' variety of speech in English, as perceived by us, is more appropriately like a millennial from California and not one of the British varieties. I actively ignore the obvious British-leaning grammar and vocab choices throughout MTMTE/LL. I write his dialogue accordingly.

No shade to anybody else or to my across-the-pond buddies. I'm not from Cali, for the record.

14. what trope would you refuse to write even if you were paid to do it?

Hm. I had a difficult time thinking of something for this one. Not a 'trope' exactly, but as a popular AU variety, I really don't want to write human AUs. They just don't click for me. They're cool to see art of but I don't really wanna write it.

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Not a proper-sentence prompt so much as just-a-distraction-prompt, but the thought of Chromantic meeting Soundwave has lived rent free in my brain since you mentioned it, so I'd love to see a snippet of your take on that if you're up for it! :3c

Send me an ask with the first sentence of a fanfic and I’ll write the next five.

“You’re from the Dead End,” Chromantic said.

Soundwave nodded, and a weight Chromantic hadn’t even noticed was immediately lifted. Soundwave was staring--he did that a lot, Chromantic had noticed, looking at and around Chromantic as though he could somehow see the quiet signals bouncing off inactive sensors.

Maybe he could. Either way, the speed at which they’d been given quarters (without rent, no matter how much Chromantic protested), plus the complete lack of surprise at a conjunxed couple’s mere existence all slotted comfortably into place.

[soundwavereporting]

1, 2, 14, 24!

fanfic asks!

1. answered

2. least favorite fic you wrote this year

There is a really, really short deadceptor fic that’s less than 500 words. That one. Just because it’s so short >:(

14. a fic you didn’t expect to write

Never in my life would I have expected to write Soundwave/Hot Rod (or Dead End/Perceptor)...Cyberverse is funny like that.

21. most memorable comment/review

An anon who called themselves ‘yoll’ was pretty much singlehandedly responsible for inspiring me to finish the long deadceptor fic. Without them I would’ve burned out around the fifth chapter and never finished.

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🍳and 🍻 !

Transformers Asks!

🍳- Character that you would go to Brunch with

Cosmos or Jazz! I think they'd be fun to hang out with.

🍻- Character that deserves a year of free drinks at Maccadams

Jazz put up with So Much he deserves free everything

[libermachinae]

I do not know if you're still taking those director's cut asks, and I don't know if this will be too spoilery to ask about considering it's from the most recent chapter, but I've been thinking about Drift's ire in this exchange all day, and I wish to hear your thoughts behind it: “Calm him down,” he demanded. / “I’m trying,” Ratchet said. “The kid’s stressed.” / Drift bristled. / “He’s not a kid,” he snapped, then cut the comm and launched himself over the shuttle.

^^ Not too spoilery, I don't think! This answer does go into things that haven't been addressed in fic, but since I'm not sure they're going to be anyway I don't consider them spoilers.

At this point in the fic, Drift still doesn't want Ratchet and Rodimus to be with him; he's accepted it, but begrudgingly. For one thing, they're a liability: if anything happens to them, the rogue Decepticons could gain control of the Enigma, spreading their conquest to other planets. It's something Drift takes personally; he was there for the decline of the Decepticons into imperialism, and fighting back against it now is his way of trying to make up for all that he allowed to happen before him.

Ratchet and Rodimus' intervention puts that goal in jeopardy, and it also puts Drift back in a feeling of uncertainty that he's been trying so hard to get away from. Though the last 4 million years were hell, at least as Deadlock he knew who he was and where he stood. In the space of a few years, he's been a neutral, an Autobot, second in command of the Lost Light, and an exile, and the frequent code switching and redefining has become exhausting, to the point he's become apathetic to where he ends up, just so long as he can stay there and not have to start over again so soon. Ratchet and Rodimus' arrival indicates that he's once more going to have to change, and he's resisting it.

It's not because he has any particular fondness for this life, but in fact the opposite. Drift has learned good things don't last: he lost Gasket, he lost Wing, and he lost the Cause. Losing his place aboard the Lost Light, however imperfect it might have been, always felt like an inevitability, and when the moment came it served as a confirmation that the end of the war didn't mean the fundamental rules had changed at all. The life he's living now, tracking down the worst atrocities of his old faction while in a state of constant disrepair and with no one he cares about anywhere nearby, is awful, but he's convinced himself that maybe that means he can keep it. He doesn't have to experience the grief of losing something good again if there's nothing good left.

So, Ratchet and Rodimus' arrival signals that he might have to face all that change again, and it's made him anxious and angry. It's been so long since he last had to wear the mask of the perky third in command, and he doesn't have the energy to do both that and deal with Vitrious' problems, so he just hasn't bothered. There's also a part of him hoping that maybe he can scare them off: if he's not the person Rodimus came looking for, Rodimus might decide he's not worth the effort and finally do as he's telling them to and leave. But so far they've refused, and the result is exactly what they promised him wouldn't happen: Rodimus ends up endangering himself, and Drift, already dealing with all of the above stress, has to throw himself off a cliff to help him. At that point, he'd be liable to snap at pretty much anything either of them said.

But it's Ratchet's choice of words that really pushes him over the edge, because when Ratchet called him "kid" in the past, it meant something. It was a rare touch of familiarity on the Lost Light, a casual, comfortable moniker from someone who actually knew who he was and what he had done. He always understood it as a symbol of acceptance, if not affection, and he's jealous to hear it given so freely to someone else. Though it's not something he has time to dwell on right now, there is a part of him that stings when he sees the closeness Ratchet and Rodimus share, and in the heat of the moment it feels like a confirmation that he's been written out of something he had no claim to in the first place.

And it cuts especially deep to hear it used like an excuse, like Rodimus is allowed to panic and lose control of the situation because he's young and inexperienced. Demonstrably false and he knows Ratchet knows that, but it doesn't stop him from lashing out just for the sheer audacity of it. However inauthentic their relationship was, Drift knows Rodimus' feelings on leadership and responsibility are complicated, but Ratchet's realistic expectations of him were stabilizing. Without them, Drift feels like he's been left adrift, and the confusion and isolation just add to his ire.

[soundwavereporting]

2, 18, and 20 for the meta asks!

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

It’s partly written but...the plot point where prowl rescues soundwave from the new institute? it’s going to be Good. (i hope)

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

At this point I feel like a lot of my different IDW fics/series are just AUs of the same thing, probably because they deal with the same characters/themes. prowlcoswave is arguably a sequel to scorecards (which still isn’t finished!), scorecards is just prowlcoswave without prowl, the unwritten postcanon prowl/cosmos fic is a sequel to scorecards but soundwave died during the unicron event, etc etc

It definitely makes me appreciate writers who tackle the same characters in very distinctive ways haha

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Not so much meta as it is an observation about my own writing but......

one day I’d like to write a longfic exclusively from Soundwave’s POV  :<

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6, 7, and 17!! c:

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

Writing Cosmos’s POV sparks joy! I’ve warmed up to Soundwave and Prowl over time, but Cosmos is still my favorite character to write. I love him. When I was writing more Cyberverse fic, I had a lot of fun writing both Hot Rod and Dead End.

7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

Run on sentences, abrupt endings/transitions, lots of dialogue, and minimal descriptions of the environment...I’ve never asked anyone what my writing style is, but I think they’d agree?

17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?

I’m sure they do...especially when it’s darkfic. Overall I find myself subconsciously projecting onto characters, lmao (usually in pretty mundane ways), but I will say that my railing against Soundwave canonically suddenly becoming Faithful/Religious and stanning the ~one true prime~ is most definitely me aggressively and deliberately working through some stuff :`D

(no one’s argued with me about my take on soundwave yet, either here or on ao3, @ anyone who wants to, I know Soundwave questions it, I know Optimus questions his own decisions and legitimacy and whatever, but the narrative never actually goes anywhere significant with this line of questioning. I stand by my take on Soundwave.)