Chapter Text
The new chapter of the fanfic posted and he cannot wait to get home to read it. His shift just now ended at Secondary’s clinic, his frame practically buzzes with excitement. It’s from his favorite franchise, he’s heard it could be a toxic fandom but he’s never seen that side.
He had finally gotten up the courage to join a few chat servers for the fandom a couple vorn ago. He even started posting his own work. He’s still a nobody in the fandom, not super active like all the other legends. He’s always so starstruck when one of the “greats” responds to him.
Only recently has he thought of doing more than sit in the bleachers. Taking inspiration from a fic he’s read recently and the poll that is circulating, he’s trying his own servo at the polling side. The Most Attractive.
Of course, in the franchise, there are young characters but normally living things grow up. So, for data purposes he adds them to the poll. Who knows, others in the fandom creating content could use the data.
He’s just an insurmountable dot in the fandom though. He doesn’t expect thousands of votes. He sets the poll for a decaorn, perhaps he could get a hundred or so within that time. Maybe even more than thirty.
Skipping a few steps up the porch, he enters their house.
“How was your orn?” Carrier asks poking his helm in the doorway as he plops down on the couch.
“Good, Secondary says I might be ready to take the exam next decaorn,” he smiles grabbing his data-pad. Notifications of his poll appear on the screen. Most of them are likes, some reblogs. One asks why he put children in the poll. He frowns. Children normally grew up. Could they not understand that? Like he’s not asking if someone would commit a crime. That’s nasty. And besides, don’t like who’s in the poll, skip it. Any data is better than no data.
He replies that normally children grow up and it’s for future reference.
He moves on, snuggling down on the couch to read the new chapter. This author was so good. Frowning slightly as a notification pops up halfway through the chapter.
:Why do you have children on the poll:
Opening the app, he tells Anonymous that generally they grow up and that that part is supposed to come off as “even this one is more attractive than that one”.
He returns to the fic, finishing it. Carrier calls for their evening Energon. Carrier chuckles when he asks to be excused early.
“Perhaps you should have come to work with me since you like writing so much,” Carrier presses a kiss to his helm.
“It’s just a hobby, writers don’t get paid much,” he shrugs, diving back onto the couch to write in his own fic.
A notification scrolls :Lets be real mech, you’re not going to get any one to vote, anything to amount. You should take the children off. Sure, they grow up if they were alive. But that’s more like what you’d do in a fan fic. They’d be entirely different characters:.
Frowning at Anonymous. Well, it is for fanfic writers, not everyone is always going to write explicitly canon version of the characters. What boring fandom it would be if mechanoids couldn’t comprehend or be creative enough to give these characters lives beyond the media in which they were. What good is fanfiction then? Why even create it? Is it not to explore new worlds, new experiences with the characters?
It sounded like the caste system, you cannot be more than what you were made for.
Do not dream.
Do not think.
Do not love.
Do not procreate.
You are a slave.
You are meaningless.
You are insignificant.
You. Are. Nothing.