Candy

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

PG
IDW/ Megatron Origin
Megatron, Soundwave
Spoilers (perhaps) for MO. 
Written for mpinsky 's prompt 'megatron, soundwave, chocolate'.  Yeah, I SEE WHAT YOU DID THAR .  No, this isn't cracky. OR THAT as you can tell by the rating (yeah, be thankful y'all weren't on THAT IM!) 

I can't write this Megatron cracky at all. He fought with me all night. The battle was epic.  And in the end, of course, Megatron won.  ;__;  

Soundwave dropped a white and purple striped box in front of Megatron, on top of the map he was studying. So much he had to learn if he was going to do this right.  So much he didn’t know, having been buried under the crust of the planet digging for energon.

This was simply a different kind of mining: it required the same patience, constant attention and, unfortunately, groping in the dark.  It was a science as much as a gut-feeling-impulse, and Megatron was determined to master it as well.

“What…is this?”  He prodded the box. 

Soundwave’s golden visor blazed. “Something of the upper classes. Consider it a…gift from Senator Ratbat.” 

A smirk.  Oh, indeed. An unwilling gift, Megatron was willing to wager. He opened the box, curious.  Something, obviously, of value, the box itself polished to a silky finish, the colors inlaid.  Even the packaging was expensive.  And inside….

Megatron grunted, pushing the box away.  “I don’t have time for this.” 

“You must make time.”  Something in his tone drew Megatron’s attention.  “Are you,” Soundwave said, tapping the rim of the box, “a mere laborer? A pit fighter? Or something more? You must test your own boundaries, or else they are worth nothing.” 

Megatron considered the box, dubiously. “Boundaries.  With…what is this? Some sort of…refined energon?”

“It is candy,” Soundwave said, quietly.  “A confection.”

“Candy.”  Megatron said the word as though it were slightly embarrassing. “Boundaries and…candy.”  Perhaps whatever had happened between Soundwave and the former Senator had…unhinged Soundwave. 

Soundwave’s chin dipped, in some expression Megatron had yet to decode.  “Megatron.  Senator Ratbat paid more for that box of candy than you earned in a full orbital cycle in your former profession.”  The truth, baldly, a little sharply, as though a mild rebuke that Megatron hadn’t known this.  Which was, of course, why Megatron valued Soundwave.  Someone who would not hesitate to call out his failings.  Until he had none.

“Indeed,” Megatron said.  He found himself leaning forward, optics keen on the little colored globs.  He prodded one gently, his battered warrior’s finger rough against the smooth hardened crème.  Absurd. That was the only word for it.  Mechs were starving.  Turning to the violence of the arena as a way to get energon to survive. Mechs like himself, replaced, obsolesced by automation, left without resources, without hope.  And mechs were squandering money on…these.  Even the box offended him. 

“Try one,” Soundwave said, quietly. 

Megatron shot him a quelling look.  He lifted one from the thin paper cup in which it had nestled, holding it to the light.  Some colored substance had been swirled over the white surface, pink and yellow, and a light swirl of pearly silver dusted the top.  So much labor. For…this.  Tiny.  Fragile.  Consumed in a moment.

He popped it into his mouth, unsure if the best way to eat it was to do that or bite into it. The energon melted into an almost liquid warmth, tingling against his glossa, its flavor sweet and pure—almost like the taste of energon that had spattered on his lips from his first kill. 

His optics met the golden visor, searching his face intently.  “You understand?” Soundwave asked. 

He grunted, the enriched, glorious silky swell of the confection bursting a strange pleasure across his sensornet. This was no temptation, this sweetness.  Too much would cloy, sicken him.  But one or two and…he could see the appeal.  But not at the cost. He couldn’t look at the box without seeing the faces of injured comrades, miners who had lost limbs, suffered hours of agony after industrial accidents, the true cost of these treats written in the pain and labor of actual mechs.

If you could look at such decadence and see only colorful candy, you could look at an energon mine and see only money; or an arena and see only sport.  Not the mechs who struggled for it, not the mechs clawing for a better life who would never, like Megatron, even see one of these things. It was a symbol, a sign of a kind of blindness. 

Or perhaps only thinking of the work and sacrifice was also a kind of blindness, a refusal to see that sometimes, sometimes, those concerns had to be put aside for some greater good.  Leading a war—as Megatron stood on the brink of doing—would allow no room for counting up costs in either ledger, even though it would take currency from both.

 He didn’t know if this was progress or not.  But he nodded at Soundwave.  Yes.  For many reasons,  he thought, as the candy’s sweetness threatened to curdle in his mouth, this was a moment he would not soon forget. 

 

Comments

[eerian_sadow]

oh, i love the candy as a symbol of the division between classes and i love that Megatron knows that's what it is. this is deep and expressive and i love it.

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it worked because I spent half the night like this:

Me: *bounce* You're going to do something cracky with Soundwave.
Megatron: >:|
Me: No, seriously. Like....lick him or something.
Megatron: I would not advise you doing that. >{
Me: Come on! IT'd be FUN! And HOT! And...licky!!!
Megatron: .... licky. >_< I do not do...licky.

So, we compromised. Hence class warfare via yummies! He's weird because he's a miner but...doesn't talk like one in the series. And I find him LESS irritatingly pretentious than the Exodus one, even though Exodus Megs is clearly based on him.

(And wow. I probably sound entirely insane, don't I?)

[eerian_sadow]

no, you do not sound entirely insane. just a little insane, with a side of TF muses that backtalk.

sadly, i cannot compare the two versions of megatron yet, as i haven't read Exodus. (and can't find a damn copy when i have money and go looking for it! rawr!)

[mpinsky.livejournal.com]

You can't fault me for trying! It's totally canon and you know it! D:

Anyways, I loved this. It's different to bring "chocolate" to a Cybertronian version, yet this worked, not just as a plot device, but as a symbolic element. And the description made my teeth hurt. Just...wow.

Thank you! This is better than I expected of what I was thinking I was going to get. <3

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

I know. And I tried. Really I did. And if I hadn't like JUST reread the series and been all dazzled by The Frill, I might have pulled it off.

Strangely I could see things with Soundwave going...that way. Just not quite yet.

[mpinsky.livejournal.com]

The FRILL trumps all! :D

[playswithworms.livejournal.com]

Despite your claim, I didn't believe there was any possible way this could not be cracky, but it's totally not. It's amazing! The relationship between Soundwave and Megatron, Megatron's disdain for the candies and all that they represent...and yet, how many things of great wonder have been built on the suffering of the many?

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

I know! The whole premise sounds hilarious but...it's so not! That is Teh Srs Powah of Srsness of Megatron! O_O

(You can't even laugh at him with The Frill!)

I think he's trying to do just what you were talking about--try to take a simple idea of individuality with the idea that the price of achievement often requires sacrifices by the individual.

Heavy, Megatron, heavy.

[gatekat.livejournal.com]

I'm pleased Megatron won your battle. That was a very insightful scene, and I really enjoy seeing Megatron's formative time before the war really got underway.