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Ok....this one is silly, and part of my overwhelming plan to have at least a rough piece of art for each chapter section. Which is also silly. The chapter section in question is part B of 
I feel a bit of real-life backstory may help. I've had 2 major surgeries in the last few years and seen my husband through 2 more. The one to fix my broken spine was the most fun by far of course, and let me say I do NOT get why people get hooked on narcotics. They make me feel like complete crap and give me nightmares. Nevertheless, in the first days after you let some dude slice a 6 inch hole in your back so he can stick a bunch of hardware in there crappy narcotics are certainly preferable than feeling every inch of a six inch hole.
Then your nurses cheerfully come along with food that is, shall we say, less than fabulous and packed with fiber, to avoid...um...complications. They even expect you to eat it.
It's enough to make a girl feel right sorry for herself.
While confronting the Meal from Hell, I had a Lancer vision. There she was, horns and all, giving me the same WTF expression she gives Rodimus when he's being a dipshit. After all...I am the one who insisted she spend almost 2 full years away from anything resembling actual food. I should eat my disgusting muffin and I should be damned grateful too. Suck it up girl!
So I ate it. Still working on the grateful part though. My characters are definitely better people than I am. Perhaps that's why we write? In any case she inspired me to be less of a whiny baby for a few minutes so the world is a better place. One less crappy muffin exists to contaminate it anyway.
Excerpt from Maelstrom Chapter 20: Aftermath
“And I will always remember you meekly taking a reaming from a human female in a hospital bed. A WELL deserved reaming, I might add... Prime.”
Lancer’s laughter rang out from the ward and First Aid joined her. Magnus grinned but contained himself. Rodi tried glaring at First Aid, who only laughed harder.
Magnus smirked. “I CAN’T wait to report this to Optimus.”
<<See? I knew you'd find a way to break his uber thick ice,>> Rodi sent, with equal measures of satisfaction and annoyance.
<<Well, finding you annoying is something we ALL have in common,>> Lancer rejoined. “Oh yea! Breakfast!” Her morning dose of high fiber muffins, prune juice, and coffee were arriving on a tray. She was hoping their combined power and the fact she was mostly avoiding the pain killers would help her move on to other things, but she was still delighted with this aspect of being...home. The orderly who brought it to her clearly thought she was insane for being so happy about it.
“Bouncing. I am pretty sure Doc said 'no moving unless it's necessary,' and bouncing over muffins is not necessary,” Rodimus snickered. “I'm also pretty sure this means that YOU are the one who doesn't understand what's good to eat when even other humans unanimously disagree with you.”
Lancer arched an eyebrow at her mate, but addressed his City Commander instead of him.
“Magnus...I shall now help you improve your report for this beast's partner.”
She held up her lowly muffin like a sacred object and stared at it lovingly.
“I had few qualifications for the planet I decided to hide out on, My Love. It needed to be isolated, and food and water needed to be easy to get my hands on. I knew I was going to be eating for two and going for days without eating like we did on Asylum was not going to cut it. I didn't know if I'd be able to hunt at all once I got fat either. I didn't have a lot of options; not without stopping to refuel at any rate, but that swamp did have one thing in abundance. Bugs. I ate fucking bugs, three meals a day for almost a year. The one that had the best vitamin content was about 8 inches long. Really hard shell too. It was not good, Love. It was not tasty. The best thing to do with it was rip its head off and stir the stuff inside up until it was more of a smoothy. That way I could just drink the guts right out of the shell without having to stop and chew. Do you know, there were nights when I was carrying that parasite child of yours that I actually woke up CRAVING a bug smoothy?”
She whacked Rodi on the back of the head.
“You see? You see what you reduced me to? You owe me big time, Mister! You can at least be decent enough to refrain from giving me shit over my glorious, chitin-free muffins!” She sent him her memories of preparing and drinking bug smoothies...as well as several other versions of bug meals. Rodi had the sense to look a bit ill over the whole thing but it wasn't enough to distract him from her willingness to share.
<<I wytiwyg="1" see you're OK with sending to me as long as it's sadistic,>> he complained. There was a bit of calling her out for hypocrisy there too, but he sensed a change in her attitude that surprised him. <<What? No orders to speak?>>
<<Magnus thinks the link is helping you override the Sigma shit,>> Lancer sent back.
<<.... So. The fact that you're causing me grief is no big deal, but as long as the link is some kind of tactical advantage you're good with it?>>
<<Right.>>
<<Ah. That's awesome. I shall have to give Magnus a promotion.>>
<<To what? He's already as high as he can get unless the Matrix asks for him.>>
<<True. A pay raise then...no. He never spends what we give him now.>>
<<Well...there's nothing for it then. You're going to have to say thank you. Make it fast so it doesn't hurt as much...>>
<<Lancer?>>
<<Yeah?>>
<< I missed you....>>
<< I missed you too you idiot.>>
Maelstrom 20 Aftermath Part AAuthor's note: This story is part of a LONG series called Maelstrom. It is strictly Gen. 1 - sorry, but that was all that was out when I started writing. If you have not read the nine original Maelstrom Comics and the preceding text stories, I strongly suggest you do. This scene contains strong language and graphic violence..
Series start: https://illmatar.deviantart.com/art/Maelstrom-1-front-cover-67989907
Maelstrom Chapter 20: Aftermath Part A
Rodimus' first trip to the Maelstrom was quite enlightening – even if the point was just to get outfitted with the ship's custom armor. The trip presented a mixed bag of flashbacks and fascination. The long, initial walk from the sub-ship had been the worst. The rarely used hallways had little of the crew's embellishments to disrupt their Jabez construction.
Talon was uncharacteristically patient with him while the white hexagon tiles almost made it impossible to walk. Apologizing got Rodi a clap o
I feel a bit of real-life backstory may help. I've had 2 major surgeries in the last few years and seen my husband through 2 more. The one to fix my broken spine was the most fun by far of course, and let me say I do NOT get why people get hooked on narcotics. They make me feel like complete crap and give me nightmares. Nevertheless, in the first days after you let some dude slice a 6 inch hole in your back so he can stick a bunch of hardware in there crappy narcotics are certainly preferable than feeling every inch of a six inch hole.
Then your nurses cheerfully come along with food that is, shall we say, less than fabulous and packed with fiber, to avoid...um...complications. They even expect you to eat it.
It's enough to make a girl feel right sorry for herself.
While confronting the Meal from Hell, I had a Lancer vision. There she was, horns and all, giving me the same WTF expression she gives Rodimus when he's being a dipshit. After all...I am the one who insisted she spend almost 2 full years away from anything resembling actual food. I should eat my disgusting muffin and I should be damned grateful too. Suck it up girl!
So I ate it. Still working on the grateful part though. My characters are definitely better people than I am. Perhaps that's why we write? In any case she inspired me to be less of a whiny baby for a few minutes so the world is a better place. One less crappy muffin exists to contaminate it anyway.
Excerpt from Maelstrom Chapter 20: Aftermath
“And I will always remember you meekly taking a reaming from a human female in a hospital bed. A WELL deserved reaming, I might add... Prime.”
Lancer’s laughter rang out from the ward and First Aid joined her. Magnus grinned but contained himself. Rodi tried glaring at First Aid, who only laughed harder.
Magnus smirked. “I CAN’T wait to report this to Optimus.”
<<See? I knew you'd find a way to break his uber thick ice,>> Rodi sent, with equal measures of satisfaction and annoyance.
<<Well, finding you annoying is something we ALL have in common,>> Lancer rejoined. “Oh yea! Breakfast!” Her morning dose of high fiber muffins, prune juice, and coffee were arriving on a tray. She was hoping their combined power and the fact she was mostly avoiding the pain killers would help her move on to other things, but she was still delighted with this aspect of being...home. The orderly who brought it to her clearly thought she was insane for being so happy about it.
“Bouncing. I am pretty sure Doc said 'no moving unless it's necessary,' and bouncing over muffins is not necessary,” Rodimus snickered. “I'm also pretty sure this means that YOU are the one who doesn't understand what's good to eat when even other humans unanimously disagree with you.”
Lancer arched an eyebrow at her mate, but addressed his City Commander instead of him.
“Magnus...I shall now help you improve your report for this beast's partner.”
She held up her lowly muffin like a sacred object and stared at it lovingly.
“I had few qualifications for the planet I decided to hide out on, My Love. It needed to be isolated, and food and water needed to be easy to get my hands on. I knew I was going to be eating for two and going for days without eating like we did on Asylum was not going to cut it. I didn't know if I'd be able to hunt at all once I got fat either. I didn't have a lot of options; not without stopping to refuel at any rate, but that swamp did have one thing in abundance. Bugs. I ate fucking bugs, three meals a day for almost a year. The one that had the best vitamin content was about 8 inches long. Really hard shell too. It was not good, Love. It was not tasty. The best thing to do with it was rip its head off and stir the stuff inside up until it was more of a smoothy. That way I could just drink the guts right out of the shell without having to stop and chew. Do you know, there were nights when I was carrying that parasite child of yours that I actually woke up CRAVING a bug smoothy?”
She whacked Rodi on the back of the head.
“You see? You see what you reduced me to? You owe me big time, Mister! You can at least be decent enough to refrain from giving me shit over my glorious, chitin-free muffins!” She sent him her memories of preparing and drinking bug smoothies...as well as several other versions of bug meals. Rodi had the sense to look a bit ill over the whole thing but it wasn't enough to distract him from her willingness to share.
<<I wytiwyg="1" see you're OK with sending to me as long as it's sadistic,>> he complained. There was a bit of calling her out for hypocrisy there too, but he sensed a change in her attitude that surprised him. <<What? No orders to speak?>>
<<Magnus thinks the link is helping you override the Sigma shit,>> Lancer sent back.
<<.... So. The fact that you're causing me grief is no big deal, but as long as the link is some kind of tactical advantage you're good with it?>>
<<Right.>>
<<Ah. That's awesome. I shall have to give Magnus a promotion.>>
<<To what? He's already as high as he can get unless the Matrix asks for him.>>
<<True. A pay raise then...no. He never spends what we give him now.>>
<<Well...there's nothing for it then. You're going to have to say thank you. Make it fast so it doesn't hurt as much...>>
<<Lancer?>>
<<Yeah?>>
<< I missed you....>>
<< I missed you too you idiot.>>
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Comments17
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I'm sitting here going "I don't recognize any of these words what is happening am I going mad(der)" and then remembered an older Journal that mentioned you were rewriting/updating some parts of it. Guess I need to read through Maelstrom again* to see what's new.
*Read the whole thing more than five times so far, but probably fewer than ten?
And since you want me to point out these things when I find them: Lancer needs a bit more neck and a lot more shoulder. On her left it's maybe fine because the bulk provided by the bandages is skewing the proportions somewhat and making her neck look shorter than it is, but her right arm is growing directly out of her clavicle/pectoral/just above her right breast, instead of being attached at the shoulder. She has very short fingers and forearm compared to the size of her palm. Could be a partial "fanging out" warping the sizes, IDK; she has the claws and fangs, but not the horns, so I'm not sure quite what state she's in, here.
Rodi's hands and fingers, on the... other hand, look huge (his left) or broken (his right), though I think the brokenness might just be due to how the line of his jaw overlaps the lines of his fingers.
*Read the whole thing more than five times so far, but probably fewer than ten?
And since you want me to point out these things when I find them: Lancer needs a bit more neck and a lot more shoulder. On her left it's maybe fine because the bulk provided by the bandages is skewing the proportions somewhat and making her neck look shorter than it is, but her right arm is growing directly out of her clavicle/pectoral/just above her right breast, instead of being attached at the shoulder. She has very short fingers and forearm compared to the size of her palm. Could be a partial "fanging out" warping the sizes, IDK; she has the claws and fangs, but not the horns, so I'm not sure quite what state she's in, here.
Rodi's hands and fingers, on the... other hand, look huge (his left) or broken (his right), though I think the brokenness might just be due to how the line of his jaw overlaps the lines of his fingers.