I think abt this. I think abt the concept art a lot, especially when one of the scenes involved Sentinel Prime instead coming down to the mines to talk to Orion and D-16, instead of having them be up in the medbay after the race to talk to.
cute little thing i had in my drafts on docs for over a year now. i could've made it angsty but... not yet :)
scenario: you're right in his grasp but he doesn't think he could have you.
— You once worked in a production factory, not really anything special but then got demoted to the mines (funny story) and D-16 has had his optics on you for a while now… Like a solid while since you came down there. If you asked Orion, he would've said since the moment he saw you. D is the type to fall hard and fast.
He's staring again, the heavy sounds of mining equipment and drills against rock beginning to fade away. He knows he shouldn't but it's so hard not to! D-16 just hopes Orion isn't near him… His yellow optics kept flickering back to you across the dark damp cave, bearing your drill through a particularly unforgiving energon vein. No matter how hard he tried. It's hard not to stare, especially since the humidity of the cave had begun to condense on your frame from the heat of their equipment. It made your dull paint job look so much more… shiny. He has to look away back to his own spot before his processor wanders elsewhere again, trying his hardest to focus on his task.
He's been falling behind his quotas lately… He's sure it will have Elita-1 concerned given he's the ideal miner, he's never fallen behind his daily quotas ever and D-16 really does not want to look like a fool in front of their squadron leader. Being smitten is not an excuse, he knows. You're just stuck inside his helm and he can't get you out!
D-16 can remember clearly the moment the two of you met. You were one of the new miners and you sort of got lost on your way to your designated recharge pod. You saw D put up his posters of Megatronus Prime by his own recharge pod and debated whether you should ask him your way to Hall No. 15… he looked no older than you really.
But before you could really say anything, he noticed you. Cocking his helm to the side a little in confusion, he had never seen you before back then but he could tell you were lost. Your appearance was the first thing that stuck him, you had tiny traces of ash smeared across your frame, your digits with blackened tips… you probably worked near a furnace in your old factory job. But the black coal tar stains by your optics made you oddly distinct. He could tell you tried your best to scrub it off and just failed miserably. You looked so sad… but so pretty, in a strange, elegant sort of way… D-16 isn't sure on how to explain it.
“Do.. Do you know the way to hall number 15?”
You had a nice voice too, pleasing to the audials. D-16 can see you're somewhat coy. Now that he thought about it, Elita-1 did mention something about a new miner.
“This is hall number 15. You must be the new guy Elita was talking about.” He remarks gently, you look somewhat relieved you'd found your way. D-16 gives a smile in assurance.
“Yes.. I'm-”
“Hey Dee!!!” The all too familiar voice of Orion rudely interrupted as he made his grand entrance to the living spaces. D-16 made an annoyed look as the two of you turned to face Orion.
“Oh! A newbie! Showing them the ropes?” Orion pauses, his prior enthusiasm dwindling down but he has a pleasant smile on his face nevertheless. He wraps his servo around D-16 and leans against his frame while the other miner looks somewhat distasteful, dermas pursed into a thin line as Orion’s glowing optics look at D-16 and back at you.
“Sorta.” D-16 replies, looking back at you, studying you. You don't seem too disturbed by Orion thankfully. If anything, just unfazed.
“Well, I'll leave you to it then. I'm Orion Pax, by the way” Orion speaks with confidence, extending a servo to you which you shake. But before you could really say your name, a loud bellow from across the hall boomed— It was Darkwing.
“ORION!!!”
The dull red and blue mech froze, somewhat nervous looking now while you stand there somewhat spooked by how loud that call was.
“Yeah, uh.. I gotta go. Nice meeting ya.” He dips near immediately as he gives you a little wave. You smile a bit, somewhat amused by this strange character. He definitely showed up to rope D-16 into one of his antics but left only because he could see that his partner in crime was occupied, D-16 knows his friend well.
“Don't mind him, that's pretty normal.” D-16 says, hoping you weren't too weirded out by his friend.
“Oh, I don't mind. He's sort of funny.” You reply, there's a small smile on your faceplates now. It made his spark weirdly fuzzy, you didn't look so sad now. It's a really pretty look, he feels. D-16 feels oddly flustered.
“Heh, yeah. He's.. He's my best friend.” D-16 says, servo on the back of his neck supports, his derma curving into a gentle smile at the mention of Orion.
“He seems like a good friend.” You say after only seeing the surface, D-16 sighs. His servo falling back down to his sides.
“Eh… most of the time.”
And so the two of you kept talking for what felt only like minutes but was actually hours. You spoke to him so nicely, so polite. He's heard the factory's tedious work but a level higher than the energon mines at least; you shared your story about how a cowardly coworker blamed you for a workplace accident and now you're in the mines. It was fun. So fun that the two of you missed out on an entire day's shift by accident. But that was the only time either of you would ever speak for that long.
D-16 can tell you're not exactly happy to be demoted down here, you look so sad most of the time… so zoned out. He figures you probably reminisce about your life in a higher sub-level. What was that like? D wonders, he's never been there… he heard they had energon dispensers they got rations from.
You always smile and get so cheery when he approaches you though. The idea that you enjoyed his company as much as he did yours made his spark all fuzzy again.
A small smile forms on his face, mindlessly drilling into the vein. He often wishes you could take him there into your fantasy world, not like he hates mining or anything, no. But merely because of an innate desire to know you more. What was going on in your processor? What all have you seen up in the higher levels? What were your factory friends like?
Maybe someday, he'd get a chance. Another chance to speak to you like he did the first time the two of you met.
— His first few attempts to start conversations with you have been awkward to say the least (or so he feels) but you don't really feel so. D-16 only really ever gets short breaks he can utilize to approach you and since you two are in the same living hall, he gets to talk to you when all of you wake up from your recharge pods.
— But once he brings up the topic of Primes, he sees the way your faceplates light up. Immediately rushing in to give your two cents, almost rambling. D-16 has struck gold here and has the widest smile ever, a common interest. He's going to scream.
“So… Who's your favourite Prime?” D-16 asks curiously, he's met a Bot that's into what he's into. It can't get any better than this. He's drilling through a rich energon vein right next to you as you're working on another. The dust from the rock settled both of your frames. This was a pleasant conversation, he hasn't felt the time pass by and thankfully their supervisor is too busy on the other end of this sector to chide the two of you for being chatty on the job.
“Of course, all of them are cool but you gotta have a favourite, right?” He looks down at you momentarily and nearly forgets the fact that he has a drill in his servos. Why must you look so alluring when you’re so focused? D-16 has held back from running his vocalizer about Megatronus Prime, trying to mention him as little as possible only because he knows he'll become a rambling mess too. He wants to spare himself the embarrassment. Unaware that its actually pretty cute when he does so.
“Ah. Well, obviously it's the strongest of them all…”
Megatronus? Maybe Zeta. Orion's favourite was Zeta but he acknowledged the might of Megatronus. He's praying you mean Megatronus. There's a wide smile gradually forming on his faceplates in growing excitement.
“Solus Prime.”
You say confidently and it makes his smile turn into a thin line of doubt. Almost questioning your choice. It threw him off so much that he failed to notice the drill getting off its balance with how his optics were glued onto you, derailing from the vein and almost into his pede.
— The ensuing minor [ba-dum-tiss] mining accident slightly damages D-16's pede and you rush him to the makeshift medbay, pushing him to go. He can see how worried you are but he doesn't want to go, not because he's trying to act tough but because Elita-1 is going to be so, so very disappointed in him… He's never had a mining accident before! Not to mention, today's one of those rare days Orion hasn't gotten himself in trouble! He can't screw up now..
You feel terrible. You shouldn't have spoken to him when he was working! Actually, no… He shouldn't have spoken to you when he was working. You're standing nearby Ratchet, as he's working on Dee's pede. You're frowning and he can tell it's because you're worried.
Orion had rushed over to Ratchet’s the moment he heard but when he saw you already there with D. Now... he was very well aware about how he could've left you & D to have a moment by yourselves but he couldn't bring himself to leave just like that. He stays with you right there, trying to absolve you from your guilt.
Meanwhile, Ratchet hits D with a resting period. Elita-1 enters the vicinity and your spark jumps to your intake but you choose to remain silent instead. Hoping the intimidating pink bot wouldn't notice you. In typical Elita-1 fashion, she proceeds to scold D in the most Elita way possible which was basically just straight to the point and very no-nonsense with no regard as to how D feels in the moment at all. Though, in her spark, she means well for one of her best miners. D-16 is frowning the whole time, repeating “it won't happen again” And that “he's sorry”. It makes you feel.. even worse in all honesty, only if you shut up at that moment and told him to focus at the task at hand.
The least you could do is at least help him get back to his stasis pod.
So that's what you do, despite his protests of ‘I'm fine’ and ‘I can walk by myself’, you hold onto his servo, providing support for D from oneside and Orion on the other.
At that moment, D felt... happy, despite the momentary disappointment he had in himself after hearing a mouthful from both the medic & Elita. The fact that he had the both of you for him.
— You make sure to check up on D-16 more aften after his injury. It warms his spark up, you... really do care. A lot. Hell, you're even offering him some of your energon rations to help him get well! He has to stop himself from smiling as hard as he can when you show up. Even though he liked to claim that he can take good care of himself. He tries to act cool and play it off as if his spark isn't jumping into the back of his intake because Primus, he might be falling harder for you now-
— Absolutely smitten but does nothing to confess, he's oddly satisfied with his day dreams of you. Are they obsessive? Slightly... He doesn't want to be a creep or anything! Its a healthy obsession. He asks the other miners where you've gone to when he hasn't seen you for too long, he begins to fret and worry when you don't show up in time to discuss about the latest Prime merch coming out, he makes mental notes of every little thing you seem to like, and he seethes in saddened pain at the very thought of another with you. Or even sharing what you have with him. He can't help but get a bit jealous when you spend a little too much time with someone else! And he knows he's not supposed to feel that way... You two aren't even together!
— So why doesn't he confess? Its relatively simple. D-16 doesn't really think he's good enough. He also might be slightly nervous which is kind of funny considering the fact that he's just about one of the strongest miners in the sector (its definitely funny to Orion watching all of this). He doesn't want to admit he feels this way for you! He doesn't really like having such intense, raw emotion of a bot the way he does for you.
— The one thing he doesn't really like about you is how you purposefully try to ragebait him during your arguments when you're powerscaling the Primes together. He can tell you just say stuff to get a reaction out of him sometimes with the way that... damn playful smile begins to shine on your face! It gets to him, it bothers him!... you look good like that, sure but you're also making him kinda annoyed. I mean, you're trying to justify ranking Alchemist over Megatronus for Primes sake! Zeta? He can understand. Solus? Maybe a little. But fragging Alchemist!?
— Also you may or may not have found his username on a few socials and may or may not ragebait him on Megatronus boards during your free time.
— D-16 will say this though, he's glad you entered his life. And he's proud to be a part of yours, you're not sulking nearly as much as you were when you were initially sentenced down to this sub-level in the mines. There's a sense of happiness he feels knowing he helped you get out of your awful state. Him and Orion. Though, he wishes you'd tell him how and why you got demoted.
Posting all of my little clothes for D-16 before the new year comes. First image is inspired by @energ00n’s Apprentice AU because someone accidentally(?) combined my robot and fabric nerd nonsense.
There are similarities between tfo D-16 and tfp Bumblebee, but their finals are different.
Something was taken away from both of them.
transformation cog voice box
They were bullied and subjected to excruciating torture.
Both take the lives of those who tormented them
But....
He was seeking He was striving for revenge peace
Thus, one remained a hostage of the past, absorbed in his hostile thoughts, while the other moved forward, carrying with him a message of hope and reconciliation.
