If Darkfang's optics went any wider, they'd pop out of their sockets. Tarn, was out of, way out of it. Too much engex, engex that Darkfang himself barely consumed. He'd come here late, found the larger Mech drinking and now he was being pulled and dragged towards Tarn. An action, too baffling to react to until it was too late.

"I have not."

After spending a full night on the Peaceful Tyranny, Starscream had returned to Cybertron's surface, refueled and patched up. There was regret. He should have gone with Tarn. He should have chased after a better life. He should have never gone back.

Tarn's words echoed in his processor as he dragged his damaged frame to his pedes, standing on shaky heel struts. His memory seemed partially corrupted. He was still in reboot, but as his various systems came back online, those words stung like the Star Saber that had just run him through. Proudly? Proudly?!

There was nothing proud about being nearly slagged by the one he'd returned to of his own volition. To want to serve. To stand by his side for the foreseeable future.

No. There was nothing proud about serving such an awful leader.

How long had it been? It had been night when he felt the bite of the blade he'd once been trusted with, but it was still night. Unless it was another night? Had a full cycle passed? Impossible.

Careful servos touched his armor plating, feeling a wound that felt much smaller than it should be for being run through. Huh. Unless this was a different wound? Had he taken more than one hit?

No matter.

He was officially done. The final frayed wire had snapped, and everything came tumbling down. Starscream was no longer willing to put up with the abuse. As he began to walk to where they had first met, the Seeker sent a hopeful ping into the cosmos. He desperately wanted to be removed from the universe. He wanted to let it all burn without him. Just like it always should have.

:: Tarn. I don't know if you are out there. Or if you can even receive this. But there is nothing left for me here. I will not stay with this miserable leader any longer. If you can hear me, I'll be up where we first met. ::

As he made his way up to the tower, he decided flying up would be easier and faster, even with the injury still leaking energon. The transformation ached a little, but nothing he wasn't used to. With his usual grace, he flew up and landed on the tower's landing pad, transforming back to land on his pedes, before he needed to sit down. And then he just... Had to wait.

"...You have not tasted it yourself?"

"I tried the recipes while I was cooking it, but I haven't had a chance to eat it now that it cooled down."

@voraciouslyindulgent sent:

📦 //What could go wrong~?

The medic did not know what, exactly, to expect when he turned, but it was not this individual- it was not a tank as tall as his universe's Megatron, with red optics glowing from a Decepticon logo of a face. Ratchet was not actually of small stature, but he suddenly felt as though he was, in the moment.

And he was definitely not experiencing surfaced memories he did not want to re-experience because of that feeling. He absolutely was not associating the limited space of the room with imprisonment. He certainly did not feel every survival impulse rekindled as he stared upward, plating slightly raised and audials angling downward.

Ratchet slowly stepped back, a gesture that may have appeared timid, but was in fact quite intentional to allow him room to transform and swing blades, if needed.

send “🔥?” for Optimus to comment on your muse's attractiveness

"The distinction in build aesthetics that I have observed between our universes is rather fascinating to me. Both yourself and many others I have seen here possess more geometric angles than I typically find at home.

"To return your compliment to me, I also see a certain beauty in your form—you have a solid presence, both in appearance and attitude. It is reminiscent of a mountain, immovable.

"I am glad we need not be enemies."

∾.❖.∾

I admit it was... disconcerting, at first, to see a mech deliberately using the Deception insignia for a face. That, in addition to the rumors I have heard of him and his tall stature made him an imposing figure. However, he has been nothing but peaceful and polite company. The war still looms in my memory, so I am deeply grateful for such moments that remind me it is no longer the reality I live within.

I did not comment upon it, but I also appreciate the aesthetic of his pattern of biolights—they are reminiscent of the wings of a crystalfly, a rather fascinating dichotomy with those brutal angles. I feel it suits his refined tastes.

Send me 🎁 (or "present") for a holiday gift from my muse!

Google was no help for her. 'Car gifts' were all just gifts you buy someone who got a new car, not a gift for a car. After much debate on what to get, she decided on something and hoped it was good.