#So all three of them just have complicated feelings regarding each other. All the robots know is that they want Nine to be happy and healthy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

waywardstraysau · 1 year

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Tri-Nerds: Origin

(A Beginning to a Wayward Tides Saga, by Mod Nightmare)

It’s common knowledge (DT) Hunter has a crush on Edric

Nobody really thought the romantic life of those two could get much more complicated, considering they’d probably never make a move.

Everyone was wrong

SO FUCKING WRONG

(Or: Jack, Hunter, and Edric develop mutual crushes on each other, one small moment at a time)

(Also, an introduction to Vex, DT’s psychic palisman modeled to scale after Malzeno, from MHR: Sunbreak)

…………

Jack never really expected Edric to come to him for something like robotics tutoring.

He was an illusionist witch, which, in Jack’s personal opinion, was the FURTHEST profession away from something as hands-on/logical as robotics and coding.

Yet, Edric was so insistent on learning the trade that Jack was eventually coerced into tutoring him. After all, if this ended up as a waste of time, at least Jack had an excuse to infodump about robotics for an hour each day until Edric grew disinterested.

Except, he didn’t.

If anything, Edric took his robotics lessons more seriously than he did in most of the schools core classes. Within two weeks he was shadowing Jack around his lab while Hunter played Animal Crossing on his loveseat. He was constantly asking thoughtful, on topic questions about each part of Jack’s constructive process, from something as delicate as the circuitry, to the bulky, hands on intricacies of proper metal welding.

Edric was actually eager to learn.

So, naturally, Jack upped the intensity of their tutoring sessions. Instead of just info dumping about the basics and leaving Edric to pick out what was and wasn’t super important, he took the time to plan out lessons. He had Edric observe him while he drew out blueprints, explaining each part of the process in detail, and drilling in to the greenettes head how important the planning stage was. He even let Edric help him with welding parts and repairs, though the scrawny witch usually stuck to observation due to his sub-par physical strength.

The whole arrangement turned out to be rather fun!

The lessons continued, and over time, Jack grew rather comfortable with Edric, even beginning to consider him a close friend. Close enough that he was noticing a few little things about the greenette he wouldn’t have expected of him.

One: Edric’s crush on Hunter. Jack wasn’t an idiot, he knew the two were close, even knew Hunter had feelings that weren’t entirely platonic (not that he’d ever admit to it) in regards to the greenette, but he honestly thought those feelings weren’t entirely reciprocated.

He’d been wrong.

If anything, Edric was downright smitten with Hunter. While the greenette tended to be rather attentive during lessons despite (what Jack suspected was) his ADHD (accommodated with a fidget cube), if Hunter was in the room with them, Jack would have to constantly, and repeatedly, redirect the scrawny witch’s visual attention back to the task at hand. If Hunter wasn’t in the lab, Edric would doodle his face in the margins of his notes, with a bunch of little hearts to boot.

Jack felt it would be inappropriate to comment, so he didn’t.

Two: Edric’s palisman, Cedric, who was practically on him twenty-four seven, looked EXACTLY like Hunter’s wolf form, with a green color pallate instead of purple.

Disregarding the fact that the concept of palisman was fucking weird as hell, it also was revealed to Jack that Edric had carved him long before he knew Hunter could shapeshift at all.

When Jack asked where he got the inspiration from, Edric simply replied “I’ve only seen two creatures who look like him in my life, and the one I modeled Cedric after was the most majestic thing I’ve ever seen”

The look Jack shot Hunter after that statement was pointedly ignored.

Three: Edric was blind as shit, but refused to wear his glasses.

Jack assumed he had contacts he misplaced on occasion, mostly because his blindness seemed to come and go. When Jack inquired about Edric’s vision problems, and ways Jack could get him some proper visual aids, he got touchy and sometimes outright left the room, but always returned and just refused to discuss the situation further.

When Jack brought this behavior up to Hunter, he confirmed that Edric had a pair of glasses, but warned him to stop bringing up the subject, as the greenette hated them.

So, Jack stopped bringing it up.

(He was admittedly curious about what the greenette might look like in them)

Four: Edric knew how to dye hair on almost a professional level

How Jack learned of this information was rather funny, in hindsight. He’d noticed his ginger roots were starting to become a little obvious one Saturday, after an all nighter. Instead of going back to his room to take care of the problem, preferably after a nap, his drunk, half asleep mind rationalized that he could probably take care of the problem without needing to leave the lab.

Bad. Idea.

Edric had walked in on him half covered in red hair dye and his lab looking like it had bore witness to a fresh, brutal murder.

None of the dye had even gotten to his hair, and he was pissed he’d run out.

Instead of being insulted for fucking up, as he had grown accustomed to after months of living with Wuya, Edric had simply chuckled, helped Jack to his feet, and then cleaned up.

Afterward, Edric had strong-armed the ginger into letting him completely re-do his dye job, with promises he could make the red both more vibrant and natural looking.

He’d delivered on both to say the least, and Jack had never felt like less of a ginger prep-school loser until that moment.

He could have kissed the greenette, the job was so well done.

Jack could understand why Hunter adored Edric after that moment.

He could do without the greenettes tardiness on Saturdays like on that current one, though. Edric’s palisman had showed up on time, as Cedric was known to be punctual, but his witch was so scatterbrained on Saturdays Jack usually ended up waiting up on him.

Usually, as a bit of harmless fun, Jack would greet the witch with Cedric in his lap, doing his best interpretation of an evil cat while he stroked him. Jack had even come up with a mock monologue about how he could have conquered Norway in the time it took Edric to show up, but that didn’t end up happening.

What happened instead was a proverbial slap to the face of Jack’s feelings.

Edric stumbled into the lab half asleep (despite it being near noon), more disheveled than Jack had ever seen him, wearing tastefully black glasses with box lenses and what looked like sleepwear.

Also, it could be a trick of the light, but Jack swore Edric looked taller.

“Edric, what the fuck” ended up coming out of the redheads mouth instead of his planned “Norway Conquest” monologue, but Jesus shit he barely recognized the teen slumped against his doorway. “Are you okay?”

“Fuuuucccckk no, Jake challenged me to do shots last night” he grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose as Jack took a hint and dimmed the lighting in the lab. “Hunter’s been helping me through this mornings hangover, but titan winning that twenty bucks was so not worth it”

“Well I can’t in good conscious let you work near machinery if you’re this fucked up” Jack concluded, getting up after Cedric jumped off his lap, quickly moving to steady Edric against his side. “I’m taking you back to your room”

“What about todays lesson?”

“Heres a lesson: NEVER work with machinery when intoxicated or hungover” Jack chided, trembling a bit under the taller males weight. “When the fuck did you get this tall, though?”

At the inquiry, Edric’s entire face turned tomato red, and he started spluttering something about a “Concealment Stone” while trying to hide his face with his available arm.

All Jack could focus on was how… oddly cute the reaction was-

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

………………………….

The guilt that followed Jack around since that revelation was soul-crushing.

Edric was a wonderful boy, inside and out, but Jack was currently cursing his bisexuality for turning his platonic feelings into something deeper.

Thankfully, Jack’s experiences with his father gave him great practice with suppressing any external indications of attraction, so he could still hang out with Edric just fine, even if he really wanted to run his fingers through the witches soft hair-

“God, I’m a shit friend” Jack groaned to himself as he let his head slam down on his workbench. He hadn’t had many friends in his life, especially ones who actually liked him, and his stupid bi ass just had to fuck it up by falling for one of them.

Needless to say, because of his feelings, the week had been painfully awkward, at least on his end.

Seriously, what the fuck was he supposed to say to Hunter?

“Hey, I think Edric’s hot too, and I’ve already daydreamed about kissing him more than once”?

Yeah. No, Jack knew he would hurt the violette if he dared admit to something like that. Not to mention Edric…

What sucked even more was Hunter was a fucking saint of a friend. While Edric was a boy he could really bond with over similar interests in regards to hobbies, Hunter was something more of a kindred spirit. The guy was an absolute riot when it came to messing with the other kids, and generally led the trio into fun shenanigans, or bailed them out if shit went south. He was a shoulder to lean on, a vote of confidence when Jack needed it.

Yet, Jack had betrayed all that, and fell for his crush. Fell hard.

Worse still, the guilt didn’t squash the butterflies, not by a long shot. His heart still pounded at the thought of Edric’s silly little grin when he managed a breakthrough in their tutoring sessions. Or when the witch brought him lunch when they met up on the days where Jack zoned out and missed the period due to one project or another-

“ARGH, fuck off!” The redhead huffed, slamming his head down again before getting up from his desk, clearly ruffled. “Fuck this, I’m getting pudding-“

“JACK!”

The redhead stumbled back in surprise as his lab door was flung open in front of him, a flash of purple light being Jack’s only warning before Hunter was grabbing onto the fabric of his trechcoat, pulling the boy genius down to his eye level and shaking him.

“JACKIFUCKEDUPTHEPALISMANSTARTEDMOVINGSHESHOULDNTHAVEBONDEDWITHMEIBONDEDWITHFLAPJACKALREADY-!!!”

“HUNTER!” Jack shouted, slamming his hands down on the shorter males shoulders to gain his attention. Thankfully, this maneuver also stopped the shaking, and even quieted the smaller teen. “I couldn’t understand a word of what you just said, what’s the problem?”

“The palisman I made for Luz, my Luz, just look at her!” He spluttered, reaching into his hood and pulling out-

“Holy shit!” The redhead exclaimed as he watched the tiny, intricate dragon in his friends hands raise its head to stare at him. He’d seen the palisman before, Hunter had proudly showed the carving off a few weeks ago when he’d completed it, claiming he was going to give it to his sister when he got back home. The dragon had been modeled after Malzeno, a monster from Hunter’s favorite game, but Jack could have sworn the carving was much lighter in color before. “It’s moving, what-”

“She’s not supposed to be moving, Jack!” The violette snapped, dropping his hands as the newly animated palisman took to the air, looking ready to lose his shit. “A palisman doesn’t move unless it’s already bonded with a witch, Luz was supposed to be her witch, not me! I already have a palisman!”

“… Okay, that sucks, you accidentally made your sisters gift useless to her, but I don’t understand why you’re freaking out so bad” Jack replied, holding out his arm to let the dragon land, and scritching her tiny chin. “Honestly, she seems perfect for you, anyway”

“Jack. A witch cannot bond with two palisman at one time, and trust me, many have tried” Hunter explained, face strained with distress. “Something bad could have happened to Flapjack!”

“You named a cardinal “Flapjack?””

“He came with the name!” The violette rebutted defensively, before shaking his head and clasping his hands together, which were noticeably trembling. “Oh God, he’s with my dad, what if they’re both hurt somewhere-“

“Hey, I’m sure they’re fine!” Jack quickly stepped in, placing a hand on the smaller males shoulder, cutting off what was sure to be a bad downward spiral. Hunter refused to look up, and so the redhead deposited the draconic palisman on his head, making him squeak and scramble to catch the little thing as it jumped right back off and forced its way into his arms. “Besides, from what you’ve told me, a palisman bond is a deep connection few can experience. I’m sure this girl would be crushed if you rejected her”

“Jack, she’s not a girlfriend” Hunter replied in deadpan, but stifled a chuckle right after as the little dragon placed her front paws on his chest and nuzzled the underside of his chin. “H-hey! Quit it!”

“I think she agrees with me” Jack chuckled, crossing his arms with a little smile as the newly animated being scrambled up onto the witches shoulders to avoid grabbing hands, Hunter laughing with genuine glee as he took part in her little game, looking happier than Jack had seen him in a while.

Wait, when did the air conditioner turn off?

“Gotcha!” Hunter finally shouted in triumph, pulling the little dragon off of him and holding her out, her little feet dangling in the air. “Silly little troublemaker! I haven’t even named you yet and you’re so smart already!”

Jack couldn’t restrain the little smile of his own as Hunter cradled the little dragon like a baby, stroking her back with adoration.

It would have been much more wholesome if the little dragon didn’t turn her head and lock eyes with Jack again.

“Thats not the air conditioner, by the way” a sleek, feminine voice suddenly chimed in Jack’s head, making him flinch violently at the sudden intrusion, staring at the little dragon in shock. “Your face is redder than your hair, and as new as I may be, I know what adoration is”

“What the actual fu-“

The rest of her statement finally sunk in, cutting off any other train of thought.

FUCK.

“Language!”

…………….

Edric chuckled from where he was catching his breath on a branch.

He wasn’t really sure why, but Jack had invited him to go tree climbing in the middle of the night. Just him, as Hunter was sleeping soundly and neither teen wished to wake him for something so silly.

Not only would Edric feel bad for disturbing his rest, but he was pretty sure Hunter would shank both of them for their reasoning, so he was left to snooze with Vex and Cedric.

“How do you suck so bad at this?” Edric wheezed as Jack flipped him off from where he was a foot or so down, limbs trembling at the sudden shift in weight support.

“Fuck you, I’m out of practice” he hissed, spite allowing him to make that final push up to where Edric sat, forcing the scrawny witch to scoot over so he had room to sit. Edric simply hummed and shimmed further down the branch, taking in the decent view of the school from where they’d chosen to climb, just outside of the property.

“It’s amazing how much luxury humans can cram into one lifetime” the greenette mused as his companion got comfortable. “Like, my parents were two of the richest people on the Isles, but even they couldn’t dream of going this extreme with a house”

“Pfft, this place had got nothin’ on my dad’s mansion in Shanghai” Jack cackled, earning an inquisitive look from the witch as he leaned against the trunk. “Not that I was allowed in there all that often, he’d usually confine me and mom to a secondary homestead while he smoozed in his big ol’ manor”

“… He didn’t have his wife and child live with him?” The scrawny witch inquired, sounding mildly horrified.

Jack just shrugged nonchalantly.

“I mean, mom was free to come and go around there as she pleased, but she usually stuck around the smaller house with me until I was twelve, when I graduated secondary school” The redhead clarified, picking at his nails despondently. “As soon as I had a GED, she was comfortable with leaving me to my own devices for longer periods of time”

“How long are we talking?” Edric asked, to which Jack just shrugged, looking disinterested.

“Long enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if I haven’t been reported missing yet” He replied, crossing his arms and staring off in the direction of the manor, eyes unfocused. “Who knows, maybe dad sent me that Puzzle Box as a plan to get rid of me for good, I’d gone off the deep end of obsessive villainy for a while at that point”

Edric didn’t know what to say to that.

What could he say?

“… Do you still consider yourself a villain?” The greenette finally settled on, to which Jack just shrugged again.

“Not really” he responded, finally looking back at the witch as he repositioned himself on the branch. “I mean, I’m not senselessly evil, but I’m not hero material, either. Mostly I’m just… bad at everything”

“Jack, your robots do all the chores and housecleaning of the entire school-”

“Not… not like that” the redhead corrected, blushing a bit as he avoided eye contact. “I’ve failed at every turn when it came to evildoing, every ally in villainy has turned on me more than once, and by the end of my so-called “career”, even my adversaries regarded me as nothing more than a joke”

“Ouch” Edric winced, and Jack just nodded along.

“Yup. And the laughing just made it all the worse” He sighed, pulling his legs in to rest his head on his knees, still avoiding eye-contact. “Hell, I was once tied to the back of a speedboat by those monks and dragged across three miles of ocean, I was considered that much of an annoyance”

“What the fuck!? What monk does that shit!?” Edric shouted, startling the redhead enough to finally look at him again. Then, realizing the yelling was probably inappropriate for that time of night, Edric turned a little pink and put a hand to his mouth, years of harsh lessons on “manners” kicking back in. “Sorry”

Then, Jack did something rather unexpected.

He laughed.

Not the old villainous cackle, or snarky snicker, but honest to god genuine bouts of laughter, the biracial redhead nearly doubled over and clutching his stomach, howling.

Edric could feel himself turning a little redder, cursing his fathers genetics for the way blushes spread over his entire face, but at that moment, he found he barely minded.

Eventually, Jack did regain composure, but it took a good moment before he could talk again, a rare, genuine smile on his face.

“S-sorry, Edric, I just didn’t think you were capable of such indignant outrage” he cackled, waving his hands around a bit to calm himself. “Glad to know you care, though”

“Of course I care, Jack. You’re my friend”

The redhead stilled at the claim, turning a little pink himself. The color was a rather start contrast to his pale skin, but oddly… alluring?

Huh.

He’s pretty cute

…

That… could be problematic.

“You… really mean that?” Jack asked nervously, picking at the holes in his fingerless gloves, cheeks looking a little more red.

Eh, screw it, I can think on it later.

“Of course! You’ve been putting up with my shit for like, two months, why wouldn’t I consider you a friend?” The greenette asked, slinging an arm over the redheads shoulders and pulling him into a side hug. “Plus, Hunter adores you! He’s even carv-“

Edric quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, remembering that particular bit of info was supposed to be a secret. Jack, in all his red-faced glory, stared at him from his position with confusion.

“Uh- lets just say he’s making something special for you and leave it at that” Edric chuckled, scratching his cheek with embarrassment.

Jack looked a little suspicious, but ended up just laughing again, ducking out of the side hug and scooting away a bit, blush still in place.

“If you say so” he replied, trying to hide the big smile spreading across his face as he moved to get up. “We should probably head back-“

“Oh, leave this part to me!” Edric hummed enthusiastically, pulling out a piece of paper to slap on his chest, and grabbing Jack around the waist.

“Wait, what are you-!?” Jack screeched, only to be cut off as Edric pushed off the branch, dragging the redhead into freefall with him.

Edric would treasure the hilariously girly scream Jack had unleashed before the “safety fall” glyph kicked in for the rest of time.

…………….

Like many teenagers who drank too much at wild parties, Hunter woke up confused.

The violette was lucky he never had to deal with a hangover, but that didn’t stop alcohol from messing with his memories. All he had from the night before was Edric passing out in the pillow fort room after losing several rounds of beer-pong to Randy (dude was surprisingly dexterous when wasted), and… a lot of intoxicated conversation with an equally-wasted Jack.

Which didn’t make a whole lot of sense, considering someone was spooning the violette from behind, and he was pretty sure he’d left Edric in the pillow fort room to sleep off the shots-

Fuck me thats not Edric the violette realized with a jolt, wincing as the redhead currently cuddling him like a beloved toy grumbled in annoyance, tightening his arms around Hunter’s waist a bit before relaxing again. Fuck fuck fuck-

The urge to squirm out of the intimate embrace he’d awoken in was sadly suppressed by the urge to not wake the neurotic genius, as he knew Jack didn’t sleep a lot if he could help it. The whole situation was incredibly awkward, probably even more so considering Hunter was subconsciously musing upon how good the other teen smelled, like sharp cinnamon mixed with burnt sugar. Intense, and a bit irritating to the senses at first, but oddly sweet once you got used to it.

“Master? How are you?” Vex trilled from where she had previously been curled up on the nightstand, sharing a plush pillow with Cedric.

Could be worse Hunter admitted, trying to distract himself from how warm Jack was despite his pale complexion. What the fuck were we even talking about last night? How did that lead to this?

“Oh, its was quite a show~” Vex chuckled, gently disentangling herself from Cedric and leaping over to join the violette on the bed, settling down while Hunter carefully repositioned himself so he was upright, but his waist was still in Jack’s hold. “You two were just chattering away, about how you both think Edric is sooo charming, then guiltily apologizing for getting in each others way”

Huh, not too bad then Hunter mused, scratching his cheek with bit of a blush. I’m not surprised Jack likes Edric too, he’s very pretty, and there’s even more substance underneath that cute face…

“Yeah, no, thats not everything. I wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on in here after that whole fiasco for a bit, your alternate was having a rather intense crisis under the influence and his Flapjack came to me for help” Vex cackled, looking rather smug. “When I came back, you and Jack were getting pretty comfy, all snuggled up together while you told Jack all about your failed missions under your uncles orders back in the day, using a light orb to project shadows to give him visuals”

… I remember that, actually Hunter mused, blushing a bit as the memory of Jack’s laughter at his side became more clear. Buddha, did I really tell him about the Bat Queen incident?

“Oh yeah you did” Vex giggled, raising a paw to cover her snout. “Hearing you recount how you tried to fistfight her after she knocked your staff out of your hands was hilarious”

Fuck me Hunter groaned internally as he buried his face in his arms, hiding his bright blush. Not just from the mortification on behalf of his thirteen year-old self, who’d received a painful thrashing from the palisman den mother, but also the delighted, carefree laughter of a teenager who was usually so closed off when it came to expressing genuine happiness.

He kind of just stayed in that position, musing over his life choices for a while, before Jack finally began to stir, retracting his arms to push himself into sitting position.

“Agh, fuck” he hissed, slamming his face into his knees and curling up to block out the sun.

“Hangover?” Hunter questioned, sitting up himself as Vex turned to rejoin Cedric on their bed, shielding the tiny wolf palisman’s eyes with her wings as she settled back in.

“No shit” he grumbled, massaging his temples with scrunched closed eyes, looking about ready to lose his mind. “Whoever invented hangovers can bite me”

“Yeah, well, you need to get up, I need someone taller to help me drag Edric back here” the violette hummed, slipping out of bed and heading over to the windows to close the curtains. The groan he received in response was expected, but still rude. “Oh, hush up, I’ll be taking care of you two for the rest of today, the least you can do for me is help out”

“Fuckin’- give me a moment, I’ll get the bots to bring him” the redhead muttered, uncurling from his vertical ball and reaching over to his trench coat tossed on the bedside table, pulling out a phone. Then, he dialed a certain number and pressed the device to the side of his head. “Operator Number 80085, dispatch retrieval drones to bring one Edric Blight back to his room”

“Did you seriously make your operator number a boobs joke?” Hunter cackled as his hungover companion shot him an exasperated look, appearing ready to just keel over and die. “Okay, sorry, you’re doing me a favor, lie back down while I clean up a bit from last night”

“Finally” He whined, flopping back over and slamming a pillow over his head, trying to hide from the natural light still streaming into the room.

Pfft. Dork the violette mused as he moved to open their door, knowing Jack’s inventions tended to break anything that interfered with their objective, then proceeded to start tidying up, habit and personal pride in his own work keeping him from using magic to expedite the process. He greeted the Jack-bots as they dropped Edric off on the bed, as Jack swore at them both for their incompetence. Yelling at your own brain children doesn’t change their programming

“Fuuuuccck, Hunter, you need to stop spiking your desserts, I had one drink” Edric whined as he stole the blanket off Jack, earning a yelp from the redhead as he swathed himself in the fabric, flopping forth in a position Hunter liked to call “The Miserable Caterpillar”. “How did you even manage to make cake intoxicating, doesn’t baking mostly nullify the alcohol!?”

“The trick is the icing” the son of Macaque hummed as he dropped his bag into their trashcan, dusting off his hands. “If you really don’t want to get drunk, just take desserts from the kids tables, I tried to warn all you guys I made my stuff particularly strong last night”

“And you lied about the “one drink” shit, I know you were doing shots before challenging Cunningham to beer pong” Jack sniped from underneath the pillow he used as a shield, voice barely muffled by the material.

“Why would you betray me like that?” Edric whimpered as Hunter shot him an amused look, flopping on top of the redhead while still wrapped up. “I thought we were friends”

“Goddamnit, Edric, get off!” Jack groaned as he tried to squirm away from he greenette while keeping his pillow firmly in place. Unfortunately, he underestimated Edric’s commitment to getting free snuggles, and both of them were on the floor within two minutes. “FUCK”

“Alright, enough messing with each other” Hunter finally stepped in, room darkening considerably as he drew a circle in the air. Both boys yelped as they were levitated off the floor and back onto the bed, before a blanket and a couple of pillows appeared in each of their laps. “Set yourselves up and get comfy, I’ll go scrape together a breakfast that’ll help out with your hangovers”

“God, please” Jack begged as Edric flopped over, sighing in relief. “Thank the lord for your magic, I was losing my shit in that sun”

“You’re a saint in sinners clothes, Hunter” the greenette added groggily, setting his glasses on the bedside table as Jack set up a little tower of pillows to rest his back against, his stubborn tendencies to avoid sleep kicking back in with the addition of darkness.

“Hey, no, Jack, give me all your devices, you don’t need to be making that headache worse” the violette scolded as the redhead produced his phone, swiping that and his tablet from the backpack on the floor.

“Oh, come on! I have codes I need to update!” He whined petulantly, trying to reach for the devices, but Hunter simply pushed him back until he relented, crossing his arms and sitting back with a frown. “Jerk”

“You’ll thank me later, Spicer” Hunter simply replied, drawing another spell circle and teleporting the electronics back into the redheads lab. “The coding will still be there when you’re well, just relax”

“Fine” he groaned, rolling his eyes as Hunter headed out, Edric already well on his way back into unconsciousness.

The second the door closed behind him, the son and successor of the Six-Eared Macaque let out a deep sigh of relief, covering his face with his hands as his ears turned red.

What even is my taste in men?

The second the door closed behind him, the son and successor of the Six-Eared Macaque let out a deep sigh of relief, covering his face with his hands as his ears turned red.

What even is my taste in men?

#wayward tides au #wayward tides #jack spicer #edric blight #hunter mihou #toh hunter #dt hunter #hunter toh #trinerdshipping #yes we’re going poly in this bitch

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madame-fouquet · 2 years

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2021 Anime Retrospective

2021 was a surprising blockbuster of a year for anime. And with it coming to a close I figured now was a good time to do as the professional reviewer-types do and present to you my 2021 anime retrospective. This year was especially difficult for me to narrow down some of the fields, so I wanna open with a big shout-out to those who just barely didn't make the cut: Kemono Jihen and Kageki Shoujo were both SO CLOSE to making the list. Quality stuff with some great looks at their respective material. Najimi from Komi-san Can't Communicate and Rajdhani from Sonny Boy are both unique, amazing, and wildly entertaining. It was a real shame that neither one of them could be my best character. The last shout out goes to the closing theme for the second season of Laid-Back Camp. Haru no Tonari is such a calming and heartwarming tune that I just want to snuggle up under a blanket and listen to it as I watch the snow fall.

Best of the Year: Odd Taxi

It was never gonna be anything else. Before this one season masterpiece had even finished its run I knew it was going to be a strong contender for the best thing I saw all year, and once it had ended I wasn't sure anything else that was gonna come out could possibly measure up. And I was right! But we're not here to talk about other stuff measuring up to near perfection. Odd Taxi combined its different, and sometimes disparate, elements so perfectly and seamlessly as to leave me completely astounded by everything it had pulled off. When I first saw it on the preview guide I thought, “Oh this looks like a cute and silly little thing to enjoy.” I was then confronted with the twisting and labyrinthine web of a true noire mystery that had me guessing where it was possibly going to go all the way until the end. The cast balloons with characters, some of whom feel innocuous and unimportant, but soon reveal themselves as key players mixed up in all the insanity. Nothing is be overlooked, nothing is to be underestimated. But despite the sheer number of turning gears, (something the series itself bothers to sit down and sort out) I never felt overwhelmed, lost,or confused. Everything is so perfectly working in tandem and I think THAT alone is the mark of a good mystery. There is so much more praise I could heap on it, and even despite my VERY complicated feelings regarding the fourth episode, this is one of the easiest recommendations, nay INSISTENCE, I could make regarding your watching. This is a new classic premiering right in front of us, don't miss the ride.

Runner-up: SSSS. Dynazenon

Were it not for the misadventures of a walrus taxi driver, this latest production by Studio Trigger would have definitely had the top spot for the year. The sequel to their Tokusatsu inspired SSSS. Gridman, Dynanzenon may have hooked me even more powerfully than that first series. Watching this group of misfits find each other, as well as themselves, all alongside over-the-top special-effects style action was a rip-roaring and, at times, heart-rending good time. I especially appreciate the way the series leads in with the impression that it is only a spiritual successor to the first series, only to drop the bomb at just the right moment that there are indeed very deep, and very important connections to the grid-based adventures of the premier SSSS. And I'm not complimenting this element just because my favorite character from Gridman makes an amazing and glorious return, it really does play perfectly alongside the escalation of events, emotions, and enemies that the series was playing into, as well as provide a sort of meta-narrative about being informed by, but not controlled by your past. If you want to feel moved, seen, touched, and amazed by a giant robot monster fighting action series, then let yourself get dragged along on this adventure by a Manic-Mummy-Dreamboy who will be happy to tell what the three things you need to keep are: Promises, Love, and-

Runner-up-up: Super Cub

Man! Spring was a hell of a season huh? The next three aren't really presented in any particular order of ranking, but it is still quite impressive that THREE of the shows on this list are all from the SAME SEASON. Super Cub is, in a lot of ways, things that neither Dynazenon or Odd Taxi are, while also having a surprising amount in common with them. It may not have twisting dangerous mysteries or giant robots fighting against horrible monsters, but it does have a protagonist stuck in their own mental rut and a focus on the people around them helping them to find their way out of that dark place. What had started out as, and what I thought was going to be, a quiet little iyashikei style show about a girl with a motorbike, turned out to be a surprisingly deep and understanding look at depression and feelings of isolation. Watching Koguma's world (literally) light up as she finds new feelings of freedom and friendship through the power of her curiously acquired bike really hit home and, I daresay, helped me to understand and be more comfortable with my own depression. The show is quiet and modest, but don't underestimate everything it has going on under the hood. (Does that pun hold up with bikes?)

Runner-up-up: Komi-san Can't Communicate

Funny those first three shows are from the same season, considering the next two are ALSO from the same season as one another. The year is going out on a good note and I for one am happy to add another amazing entry to my personal favorite genre of Absurd High School Comedies. Komi-san and her friends are everything I could want. They're idiots. They're eccentric to the max. And they all understand that understanding and supporting each other is what really matters, even if they mess that part up every now and then. Points to the titular character herself here. Who'd have thought that a protagonist could have fewer lines than most tertiary characters in other shows, but more personality than some other leading lads/ladies. Komi and her situation remind me greatly of another series, Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu, but her nerves might be even more unstable than that series' own protagonist. Both series however treat the socially awkward nature of their protagonists, not as a second-hand embarrassment punching bag, but as something to be understood and cared for (even while it does result in particularly hilarious situations.) The difference between the two, and where Komi-san may excel even more, is that while Bocchi's companions are a bunch of silly goobers, Komi's growing friend group are straight-up wackadoos. This allows the story to go even more over-the-top with giving Komi situations to creatively navigate as she tries her best to find her voice and connect with others. And I think that's really beautiful.

Runner-up-up: Mieruko-chan

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not that big on horror movies. But there is something about well-written horror manga and anime that my little weeb heart just loves and latches onto immediately. So you can imagine my excitement when I first set sites on this season's supernatural spook-show. Mieruko-chan revels in some of the cheesiest elements horror has to offer, while also indulging in some truly gruesome and horrifying material. The monster designs should also not be underestimated. These are some twisted, awesome, and absolutely terrifying monsters that, no matter how silly or funny the moment's events might be, earn the fear Miko experiences around them. Miko's shtick of just trying to ignore the haunting horrors surrounding her everyday life is already entertaining and rife with material to make your skin crawl, but watching her grow and come to terms with having to confront the ghosts and ghouls (though almost always unwillingly) is where the true heart lies. Her generally deadpan delivery is perfect to make it really land when she is pushed to the point where she can't bottle her feelings anymore, and makes it so I feel her fear and frustration just as greatly. Mieruko-chan is legitimately scary at times, and also incredibly hilarious, and equally heartwarming even. I'm picky about horror, even if I loosen up for the anime variety, so I want you to know that coming from me, this recommendation means something. Just uh, maybe keep the lights on while you watch yeah?

Honorable Mention: Dungeon of Black Company

I know how this looks but- Hey, don't leave! Just hear me out! The series that didn't make the cut for top 5 were definitely better than this one, but I was always going to place Dungeon of Black Company in this slot based purely on how much it surprised me. A stupid gag isekai is NOT normally the kind of thing I'd recommend, or even watch, but damn where does this show get off being this actually good? A complete bastard of a protagonist is always a dangerous move that CAN result in an insufferable show that is just a slog to watch because of how unlikable the character we spend the most time with is. But despite how awful he is Ninomiya is great fun to spend time with. His farcical levels of self-serving are used to illustrate points both good and bad, and I think what's most important is that he is duly punished whenever he steps over a line that harms others. Through all his highs and lows, ups and downs, Kinji Ninomiya learns to be just bastard enough that it's a character trait, and not a problem. The other short-list of stuff this show does right (cause I don't have enough time or space in this format to fully explore all of them) include: All the negative impacts of unfettered capitalism- from ecological to social to personal, surprisingly respectful representation of a gender fluid/trans character, emphasizing trust and mutual respect for your friends and peers, staying true to one's self, and more responsible ways to run a business without all those negative impacts mentioned before. For a series full of naked dudes, crude and crass humor, and your average anime helping of over-sized boobahs, this series has a lot of good points to make, and it actually does so quite well. Don't you ever change kid, not even for yourself!

Best Theme-Song of the Year: Nai Nai (Shadows House)

Oooooh, how haunting. How spine-tingling. How delightful. Those are all words that describe Shadows House as a series, and they also beautifully describe its ending theme, Nai Nai. The gothic instrumentation, the powerful strings, the choral voices, the inclusion of contemporary musical elements all tie together into a number that I could never skip. The way the song builds, from those subtle lyrical notes into a grand sweeping and exhilarating crescendo perfectly encapsulate what the series itself did, from its innocent and almost sweet feeling beginning, until the heart pounding final few episodes where the lives of humans and shadows alike hang in the balance. The video that accompanies the song is equally fantastic. The early focus on slowly panning stills plays into the quieter beginning, but the unsettling nature is still represented in an almost sinister look to the tableau presented. Then as the song speeds up and swells suddenly everything is in motion with Emilico and Kate running, trapped in an seemingly never-ending spiral, similar to how they seemed trapped in their own home of Shadows House. The end being punctuated with the shattered glass noise as all the lights go out is just that perfect little aesthetic finish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxgLZBHPxHM

Character of the Year: Hajime Tanaka (Odd Taxi)

Setting aside my very complicated opinions on the fourth episode of Odd Taxi, Tanaka (whose titular revolution that episode was) was the character that I think had the greatest impact on me this year, and really stood out from the pack. Odd Taxi is full of chatty characters who make snappy comebacks and share amazingly real feeling dialogue with each other. Tanaka, who does 95% of his talking in that one episode, on the other hand spends little of the series exchanging any words with anyone. That taciturn nature, a product of his circumstances and the plot, is part of what sells me on him though. He can communicate so much of what he's going through based solely on screen presence that he doesn't need to share zippy conversations with other characters. And he wouldn't want to anyway. This is a broken cat with a singular focus who, after years of wandering and wasting while being the most aggressive cautionary tale for gacha games there is, has finally found something that truly drives him, truly gives his life meaning (at least so he believes). That thing just happens to be murdering an innocent taxi driver over a perceived slight. Everything comes to a head for him in what is possibly my favorite scene in the series, and the scene that really fully sold me on Tanaka as a character: when he is finally faced with his vengeance, and the endpoint of his long waged revolution. The emotions he feels and his reaction to finally achieving some manner of fulfillment in that quest were everything the moment needed to be. Tanaka spent most of his life being an unpitiable, self-absorbed, excuse making brat. But in the final moments of the series, as he, others, and us the viewers watch that final spectacle, I finally felt some semblance of pity for this poor little meow meow.

Best Moment: Shii-chan's breakdown (Super Cub)

First off... Ow. Super Cub was a pointedly quiet show that, while usually subdued in both presentation and volume, utilized that almost sepia backdrop as a way to let its brightness and color shine, especially in key moments when the show would literally brighten up. It was a simple show that was less about big dramatic events and hard-hitting character turns, and more about the subtle but appreciable growth of characters really finding themselves through the mundane everyday. And then Shii-chan almost dies! Episode eleven opens with a very different tone than what had really come before it. A large part of the episode takes place during a dark and freezing winter night as snow starts to fall. There is no place here for the usually enlightening color palette, Shii-chan is in very real danger and it's on Koguma to save her. But that valiant rescue actually takes up very little of the episode. What matters is what happens after Koguma saves Shii-chan. She brings the tiny cyclist back to her equally tiny apartment and sets to work stabilizing her condition, both mental and psychical. Reiko joins them a little later and they share a quiet but cheerful enough meal together. Shii-chan volunteers to clean up, but soon her emotions finally catch up with her and her veneer of calm breaks, resulting in her crying as she begs Koguma to take the winter far away from here, a request Koguma has to inform her, the super cub is ill-equipped to fulfill. This scene utilizes silence so expertly. The lack of any music. The minimal words exchanged between the characters, minutes of near silence pass putting so much emphasis on Shii-chan's fragile state, her desperate attempt to force calm and to not think too much about the fact that she came very near to death and just how incapable and weak she feels as a result. The water overflowing in the bowl she holds as her sadness and fear finally boil over inside of her, it's a very real emotion I think we've all felt. Something bad has happened to you, and you know there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it, and the helplessness and desperation is too much. Do you try to hold it in, or let it all spill out at once? Shii-chan tries to do the former, but is unable to hold everything back. And I'm gonna be honest, I cried along with her.

Worst of the Year: Wonder Egg Priority

Disclaimer: I only vote a series “worst of the year” that I have watched all or the majority of. I will not vote for something that I tried for one or two episodes and dropped due to not liking it, so this often ends up as more of a “least favorite” or “most disappointing” category. I also will NOT vote for something with an infamous reputation. I know by word of mouth of some truly ABYSMAL shows (EX-ARM), but I didn't watch them, so it's not fair for me to give them that flack (No matter how well deserved). With that out of the way, this is still a REALLY complicated topic to cover. Endings mean a lot to a show. There was one other show I had considered for this category because of how badly it had dropped and mangled its finale. However, Wonder Egg Priority made such a deep, complete, and unfortunate mess of itself that I think all of us were left with serious egg on our collective face. I had pumped, rooted on, and suggested this show heartily through most of its run. The willingness it had shown to tackle harsh subject matter with an amazing amount of care and understanding, and its ability to show nuanced concern for the cast of young girls really impressed me with its depth and care. The very frank and upfront representation of trans characters and the kinds of difficulties they face in life was personally heartwarming and powerful to see. All the pieces were in place for a dark, but illuminating show that was sure to stand as a testament to what character studies and action-fantasy series could be. And then it all crumbled apart. Maybe it started with the overly complicated explanation of what the girls are actually doing. Maybe it started with the eleventh hour introduction of a big bad villain type character. Maybe it was the out-of-nowhere lack of understanding as to why framing that character as the big villain was a bad idea. Maybe it was the fact that her plot almost completely invalidated a bunch of the points the series had so articulately made up until that point. Maybe it was framing the abusive, narcissistic, and negligent men as victims. Maybe it was brazenly forgiving, even supporting, the actions of an adult overstepping his bounds with vulnerable young girls. I don't know what it started with, but it ended with one of the most disappointing, most backwards, most backtrackinng, most self-invalidating finales I have ever seen.

One last shout-out to Yuka-chan from Blue Period for being my most personally relatable character of this year. Stay strong girl, and I'll do my best too.

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procrastinatorproject · 3 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Picard Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Agnes Jurati/Cristóbal Rios Characters: Agnes Jurati, Cristóbal Rios Additional Tags: Meta, Developing Relationship, my take on Agnes and Cris's relationship, and why i think it works, Minor Character Death (Mentioned), Psychological Trauma

Title Inspired by @regionalpancake‘s glorious Downtime Drabble “You’re Light On Me”

A while ago, a friend confessed to me that they didn’t really understand what Agnes Jurati and Cris Rios see in each other. They felt the relationship seemed unmotivated and forced, and they didn’t really see why other people thought it worked.

I’ve seen this sentiment a few times since the show came out, and I’m not here to tell anyone they have to agree with the show-writers’ choices or like a relationship if it doesn’t work for them. But I recently reread the little essay I sent that friend in reply (after making sure they’d want to read it ;9 ), and I really liked it, so I thought I’d share it here.

When people say that the kiss between Agnes Jurati and Cristobal Rios at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 1 blindsided them, I understand where they're coming from. I think the showrunners could have done more to make the developing relationship between these characters truly obvious, but for me, it didn't feel like the mutual attraction between Cris and Agnes came completely out of nowhere. Let me explain.

One of the big things about Rios’s character I find striking is that he wants to be stoic and cynical and misanthropic, but he just... can't do it. He tries! He's short, he hides behind his books, and he pretends he doesn't care about politeness. But the only people he ever swears at are Raffi, a very good friend, and the holos (which are a whole other matter, because there is all this self-loathing tied up in Cris's relationship with them). Over the course of season 1, it's pretty clear that Rios is rather good at reading people, and he wants to do right by them. He defers to Picard pretty much immediately and Soji looks at him pleadingly once and he decides to put his ship at risk for her.

Rios doesn't want to like people, he just can't help himself. He wants to be annoyed by Agnes interrupting his reading, but I think he finds her quirkiness disarming and charming. It's already visible in the way he looks at her on the bridge, when they talk about paper books. And then they go to the holodeck to discuss Picard's detour to Vashti. Since Agnes is the audience stand-in, she asks a bunch of questions, and instead of being annoyed or short, Cris patiently explains everything to her (after offering her a seat). Later, when Cris asks Agnes what she thinks about his outfit for the Stardust City caper and she says he's killing it, there's a beat there. He seems almost a little taken aback, either by her sincerity, or maybe by realizing he values her opinion. It's yet another thing they connect over it. (Also robot boxing. That scene is adorable)

With regards to Agnes… I think partially, she's leaning into her natural humour and quirkiness to appear non-threatening and not give herself away, but I also have another read on her behaviour. (This may partially be me projecting WAY TOO HARD, or, to put it more generously, applying some lived experience to what we see of Agnes's character, so your take on this might be very different. But this is what I see.)

When Agnes and Cris talk before they go off to have sex, Agnes is making jokes and smiling. To me, that doesn’t read as fake or a ploy to manipulate Rios, it seems real. And then when he asks, really asks, how she's feeling, suddenly there is this chasm of pain right under the surface. For me, the idea that Agnes has this intense psychological trauma and is dealing with it by finding joy in little things, like watering the plants, and reading papers, and flirting with the hot captain by completely wrong-footing him with a comment about her dad... it feels very authentic. And I can see how this guy, who pretends to be all uncaring and edgy but is actually a big softie not very far under the surface, and who smiles at her jokes and takes the time to explain stuff to her and listens to her babble, that's a nice distraction from the horrible things happening in her mind. Not in the sense that she's manipulatively using him, but in the sense that this kind of human connection gives her moments of light and gives her reasons to keep going, even through so much pain.

After Agnes kills Maddox, she is deeply, deeply conflicted over what she's done. To the point where when they’re leaving the Artefact, she basically says "I don't care if the world ends if I don't kill Soji. Let it all burn. I just can't do this anymore". And then here is this man, who's kind and caring and, yes, hot, and at first it's "I just want to feel something, anything, and he's here, he's half-naked, he's gorgeous". And Rios isn't necessarily opposed to a no-strings-attached fling. Because he keeps telling himself he doesn't get attached and he hates people and he's only ferrying them around because they're paying him. So it's a distraction with a woman who is quirky and witty and pretty, but it won't mean anything, and that's okay.

And then Agnes changes her mind, because she realizes having sex with Rios will make things more complicated. Or maybe because she thinks Rios deserves better. Or that she shouldn't have sex to distract herself from horrible emotional pain because that's kinda unhealthy.

So she pulls back.

And Rios, instead of being annoyed at missing out or feeling like she led him on, or any number of things, asks her how she's feeling. In a way that makes it clear (at least to me) that he really cares about the answer. And for a moment, Agnes lets him see the true darkness inside her. Because she can pretend it's about Maddox dying, she can pretend it's just about being a lonely nerd. She doesn't have to tell him how bad it really is, but she lets herself feel all of the bad emotions for just a moment.

And then she kisses him again, maybe to shut herself up or to distract herself, or because she needs the connection. And he doesn't have any illusion about what it is they're doing. He knows she's trying to feel better, he essentially tells her he knows it's a way for her to deal with her devastation, and he's okay with it. Maybe because he knows what it's like to feel hollow and terrified and need something, anything to cling to.

And at this point, I think they're both still telling themselves that they don't actually care about each other. Cris because he doesn't want to care about anyone ever again so he won't get hurt. (Which, again, he fails miserably at, but I think that's how he wants to see himself and why he treats his holos with so much disdain that Emil tells Picard "He doesn't get any nicer", even though we see Rios being kind to all the people on board.) And Agnes doesn't really have the brain space to allow herself to fall for anyone. She's just taking little moments of light and human connection where she can get them. And they both decide to have sex as a one-night-stand, just to make Agnes feel better for the night, just because they're both lonely and in pain. No deeper meaning behind it.

And then the whole tracker debacle happens. It takes three days to get to Nepenthe and by the time Agnes goes into a coma, they're still a couple days away at least. She doesn't wake up until Picard is back on board, which means she's out for a long time. Even though we don’t see much of the medical drama, we can assume she was very much at death's door. So, now Rios is faced with once again losing someone he feels somewhat responsible for. Someone he has actually gotten close to. And I think that moment and the fear it causes him might make him start to realize how much he actually cares about her.

And then when Picard and Soji are on board, they all sit down together and figure out the big mystery at the heart of season 1. And here is another thing Cris and Agnes find out they have in common: Both of their lives and minds got destroyed by Oh's machinations. Cris went against everything he believed in when he covered up what Vandermeer had done. He didn't actively kill anyone, but he feels like Vandermeer's death is his fault. His belief in the fundamental goodness of Starfleet was shattered when they threatened to blow up his ship. For Agnes, this kind of shattering of a truth she had clung to comes when she realizes she wasn't acting on the directive of the Head of Starfleet Security in a black-ops mission sanctioned by one of the most important institutions of the Federation. Instead, she was nothing but a pawn, used by Oh for nefarious purposes that had nothing to do with the greater good. The exact circumstances of their traumas are different, but they were both caught up in the same catastrophe and cover-up and it has marked them in similar ways.

I think this is one of the reasons Rios doesn't blame Agnes for killing Maddox. If anything, he gets more protective of her, e.g. by trying to stop Sutra from forcing another mind-meld on Agnes. You can see this in a more subtle scene, too: when Cris says goodbye to Agnes at Coppelius station, he reaches out to touch her face, but then he hesitates and proceeds with extreme gentleness and care. To me, that reads like someone very, very aware of the other person's trauma and possible triggers (forced mind-meld) and caring deeply about making sure she feels safe and has something good to counterbalance the horrible memories.

And finally, we clearly jump quite a bit in time at the very end of season 1. When our motley crew sets out from Coppelius, the Synth Ban has been lifted. Just imagine the bureaucracy that must have taken! That’s not something that can be overturned in a day. Also, Raffi and Seven have had time to connect, so I imagine in that time, Cris and Agnes, too, will have slowly figured out whether they're compatible and whether this relationship is something they might, very carefully and gently, endeavour together.

Because they have a compatible kind of humour, because they understand what it's like to feel deeply broken but to keep going regardless, because she's witty and quirky and he's caring and kind and they went through a very specific hell together, and they might be able to hold each other's hands as they slowly make their ways towards healing.

I’m going to do a metatextual thing here and quote an absolutely gorgeous drabble by @regionalpancake that, to me, encapsulates one very important aspect of the relationship between Cris and Agnes.

Your Light On Me

You’d forgotten just how it felt. To feel like you. A stranger, Last seen aboard the Ibn Majid. Proud, red trimmed shoulders, Bright pips, a polished combadge. You signed aboard, And found A different man signed off. You’re old enough to know, She cannot fix you. You wouldn’t want her to. That’s between Pops and you. That’s your work to do, Not hers. But Agnes? Preciosa. Something in her, Shines a light. Reminds you who you are. You have to find, Your own way home. But god, It’s nice, At last, To find, A gentle soul, To hold the lamp.

Chapter 74 of Downtime

That. Right there. A gentle soul to hold the lamp. I think for me, that's what the relationship between Cris and Agnes boils down to.

They are broken people in a broken world, but by the end of season 1, they have found that they can hold each other while they try to put themselves back together. And what starts out as a fun, distracting flirtation, then turns into "meaningless" sex to stop feeling lonely and sad, finally becomes the beginning of a relationship built on shared trauma, but more importantly on kindness and charm.

I have no idea whether these two can make it work long-term, but I am very much on board for what we've seen so far, and I hope this can help a bit in explaining why.

NB: After I finished writing this a few weeks back, I remembered that there was a fic that came to very similar conclusions. Upon reread, I realized it essentially hits the exact same points I do here and does so absolutely beautifully. So if you want a truly touching in-universe perspective on this relationship, go and read Love Comes Softly by Be_Right_Back (@smhalltheurlsaretaken, or listen to the Podfic recorded by Thimblerig. I cannot recommend this fic highly enough!

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burningthemidnightcityoil · 3 years

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ON CLASSES

Classpects run on Irony, Puns, Wordplay, and each class has a secondary verb, in addition to the one they share with their pair.

Witch - Which. “Choose / Choice”. A Witch chooses power. Witches are the Powerhouse of the Session(cell). They are akin to Thieves, for a Witch takes power. But the difference here is that a Witch doesn’t need to take it from other people, a Witch takes back their own power from whatever Guardian (or “familiar”) has it. Its not like an Heir, where the Heir can just wait for it to come; a Witch has to grab it or be forced into its service.

Heir - Air/Err. “Inherit”. An Heir inherits power. While Heirs are akin to the Page, where they both inspire others to help them; the difference here is that Heirs will inspire others to Guide them (Literally inspire others to act as Seers), while Pages inspire others to Serve them (Inspire others to act as Knights). Heirs don’t like being Served (In fact, Heirs Homestuck-Historically have conflicts with Guardians because of their Service), and Pages don’t like being Guided. (Most Pages tend to talk smack about those trying to Guide them)

Mage - Magician. “Perform”. Mage’s are showy, in addition to being knowitalls. How you are Seen is Important. There are three Mages, two known and one HC’d, that give this. Sollux, inspite of his problems, is a Show Off and tries to play it off Smoothly. His performance is more important than his powers (Or Spells, if we’re dedicated). Meulin also tends to be Showy. Both by showing off her favorite couples, and by her Disciple self showing off her rommance on literal cave walls. HC’d Mage, Diamonds Droog / Draconian Dignitary, is all about the Show and the Class, and not about Flash Powers or Transformations.

Seer - To See. “Envision”. Seers See Seas. What you see is important. Unlike their counterpart, the Mage, A Seer’s visions are more important than their Spells. (This is inspite of the fact that both Mages and Seers are equally capable of both Visions and Spells, as well as Performance. It seems what what indicates if you’re a Mage or a Seer is if what’s important is How you are Seen, or What you See; A Mage wants to be Seen, a Seer wants to See).

Thief - To Steal / To Steel / Steel yourselves. “Enforce”. If Knights are the Law, Thieves are the Enforcers; because they literally reinforce themselves by taking what they want. Let’s take this a step further, and include all definitions of Enforce Thieves Strengthen, Intensify, Force, Drive and Urge whatever they set their sights on, to be what they want it. (After all, they Steal, or Take By Force / Violence)

Rogue - To Go Rogue / Haywire. “To Cross”. Rogues are pretty good about making connections, and making connections work; be it between people, or their Aspect. (Roxy between her Friends and her Windows; Nepeta with her Romances)

Knight - Night. “To Bare / Bear”. Bear hands? This may seem outlandish, but the origin of the word Night is “Bare” or “To be Bare of Sunlight”. And Knights tend to put on a kind of Mask, or Shield, or rather, Helm / Helmet as they feel their weaknesses (or what they think are their weaknesses) feel bare to the world (Dave and his Sunglasses; Karkat and his Temper; Latula and her Gamer Attitude).

Page - Chapter. “To Assemble” YOU BOY, EQUIP ARMS. This one took a bit, but what’s a Page without a Chapter? Be it a Chapter in a Book of Pages, or a Council to of all those they have called on to serve them. A Page is a Knightly figure that has a Round Table, akin to a Rogue’s Merrymen. A Page inspires others to play Knight to them, or to serve them. To call to Arms, or call to Action. So basically, if Robin Hood is a Rogue’s Mythic figure, King Arthur is a Page’s mythic figure. So literally, all those a Page calls on personally, makes them apart of their Round Table of Knights. (Wait, does this mean that HS^2 Jane is Morgan Le F--)

Maid - Made. “To Make” Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice. Maids are the Makers. They don’t so much as Maintain, though they do that too, as they create. Consider. Aradia is a prime example. She dies, so she makes Time for herself as a very powerful Poltergeist. She becomes a Robot, and makes Time for Herself by her many many Robot Time Copies, or as Time is Numeral, making Numbers. She becomes a Godtier, and suddenly, Time in the Dream Bubbles align perfectly with the Present. Notice how when we are first introduced to the Dream Bubbles, Time was a real nonlinear pain. But when Aradia took the Reins on this Time Management Stuff, and suddenly the Dream Bubbles were Linear and aligned with our Story. She did want to see the end, after all (And the more living Time Gods entered the Bubbles, the more Linear things became) For Porrim, its about Making Space for others in both her various views and her uh... Various Views. For the Dolorosa, this included making Space for herself, and for her son. She possibly even helped direct him closer to the idea of Freedom (And he did see visions of another space in time...)

Sylph - Sylvan / Wood Threshold. “To Matter” Okay, this one is like the Knight’s, if not more complicated (and likely gonna require more development in the future, cos this took waaay too much digging for my liking). Thing is, Sylph is a difficult thing to name from name alone unless you look into the word itself. Because its derived from Sylvan “Of the woods”. But we break that down into two things. Silva, the Woods, and Hyle, Matter. Hyle / Hule is already the Greek word for Matter or Wood in any case. And our word for Matter is already derived from Mater, the Latin word for Mother. (The original English word was displaced by Latin; Andwork was once our word for Matter). Unfortunately, I can’t quite make the connections here yet, so I’m not sure if “To Matter” is the proper verb. I can, however, describe some loose connections that at least tell me I’m on the right track: ... Sylphs are defined by their Environment; Such as Kanaya’s relations regarding Trolls (A motherly figure), Aranea defined herself by Information and giving Information (which ain’t healthy), Mindfang defined herself a Thief because the Troll Empire was lead by a Thief And HC’d Sylph of Mind, Snowman was, quite literally, the Universe (And its Multiverse, which is a Mind thing). So a Sylph defines herself by her “Woods”, or like a Nymph / Dryad, by her “Tree / Wood / Matter”. And when you kill the Tree / Wood, you kill the Sylph, and vice versa (Destroy the Matriorb, and Kanaya dies; Kill Snowman and you kill the Unvierse; Mindfang was murdered, and her Enlightenment about the Doc died with her).

Prince - Principle / Foremost. “To Postulate” Its the Principle of the matter. For Princes, Principle and Code are key, and they will follow these as a fundamental truth (and be damned to anything else). This is likely what it was meant when they were called a Destroyer Class, because they do tend to destroy all avenues when it doesn’t fit their Principle. A Group of Princes could be called an Argument. For Eridan, both the system he resided in, and his own internal narrative (his Hopes), were his fundamental truths. And in the end, it fucked everything up. For Kurloz, his Belief System and his chosen Lord were his Fundamental Truth (And Rage is about Truths; so this guy didn’t just have a fortified castle, he had an entire armored country) For Dirk, the Character someone presented was the Truth of the matter, and the Character he presented. He believed that all versions of him were Him, and that was his biggest flaw, because they weren’t. AR was no more Dirk Strider than Bro was. ... And unfortunately, one version of him took this very literally (HS^2).

Bard - Barred / Bar. “To Prevent” Bards are quite the Wild Card, because how the hell do you manage destroying stuff for other people’s benefit and it actually ensured that it is a benefit? But from our few examples, Bards do act as great barriers. They keep things on the path because if you didn’t have that barrier, you wouldn’t progress, or you’d go too far too quickly, or things could go out of hand. For Gamzee, he tends to invoke the idea of the Barrier Maiden (He does roleplay a fairy / maid). He can’t die cos he’s a Cosmic Keystone to things happening like they’re suppose to. Paradox Space, literally, cannot let him die because it needs him to complete the Alpha Loop [By extension, no Doomed Timeline ever has a Dead Gamzee, he’s just that important, the stupid fuck] / [consider the theory that he also absorbs his alternative selves to keep his keystone status; like how Rose absorbed her alternative dream self] (Though when you take him from his story / destiny / fate, he’s just another mortal shitty clown). Gamzee prevented Rage, for Homestuck to continue as its intended narrative. For Cronus, his little Hope Quest was a direct line to Lord English (being the evil wvizard in his little Harry Potter fantasy). But this blew up royally, because as it turns out, it isn’t up to the Beforus Trolls to do shit. So just as Gamzee’s crisis of Fate put things back on the Path to LE and prevented catastrophe, Cronus’s crisis caused catastrophe. He prevented Hope for the Beforus Trolls, because it wasn’t their Story. And now for my HC’d Bard of Doom, Clubs Deuce. He does exactly what it says, he Prevents Doom. Inspite of what it appears, he’s highly competent because that prevents things from going to hell. For CD, he prevented Doom, for his Crew, and the sessions he’s involved in. And any time CD tends to disappear from the picture, is when things go to hell fast (For the Crew, Cans showed up; for the Beta Session, he was a mere herald for the doom that was already coming and his death cinched it)

#homestuck #classpect

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incorrect-ikevamp-quotes · 4 years

Note

I was on Arthur’s wiki a while back and one of the secrets said that Arthur doesn’t actually like Dazai. I’ve only just started Arthur’s route so I was wondering if that was true or not?

Sure thing! I can offer what I know about the two up to this point!

To my knowledge it is indeed true that Arthur harbors a great deal of disdain for Dazai, though in other routes he can be more subtle about his feelings towards the man. Before I can really speak to why Arthur dislikes him so much, I feel like we need to establish two really important reference points in terms of their understanding/view of the world.

Arthur, like it or not, has one fundamental belief about the world he inhabits. And that is that the world is an evil place. It is a place where good cannot survive, and as such that means every single person he comes into contact with must be marred by some kind of wrongdoing or ill intent. It is his justification for his largely selfish behavior, the reason why he deems it okay that he lives with no thought for the future or hope for better.

Dazai, believe it or not, does not exist far away from this understanding of the world. For all of the man’s silliness, he does not live in some kind of la la land where everything is perfect and fun all the time. To the contrary, he has seen and known a great deal of tragedy; he knows how unforgiving the world can be, how unfair and overwhelming the weight of everything is.

Knowing this, one might not be so surprised. After all, they both deal with so much of their trauma/pain with humor--the classic comedic misdirection to force attention elsewhere. Why then, does Arthur feel so much dislike? Aren’t they kindred spirits, in a way?

This is where one absolutely key difference comes into play.

The difference is that Dazai does not take a deterministic stance in regards to the misconduct and cruelty that tends to plague human society. The difference, in other words, is surprisingly simple: hope. Dazai may feel hopeless about all of the difficult things that exist in the world, and in the ways people hurt each other--but he still wants people to be happy. He still wants to work to alleviate people’s unhappiness, show them ways to smile and laugh, to forget their pain and ease disagreements. It’s...a little cliche, but if I’m being honest, Dazai understands one of the hardest things a person has to learn when they reach their lowest points.

Hope is something that you give yourself. You have to be the one to decide to want better, to work for better. And when things don’t improve fast enough, you have to carry those broken pieces with as much courage and grace as you can muster. Dazai I must admit, does this with more finesse than anyone gives him credit for. He is something of a chameleon, taking on the colors of others as he weaves in and out of their view, never betraying his true desolation. (The problem in that, however, is that he never asks for help until it’s far too late--and in the case of Ikevamp, never asks for help at all for the vast majority of his screentime.)

This isn’t to play a game of moral superiority. Dazai’s approach isn’t a perfect one by any means; it is simply the only way he knew how to engage with the world and remain true to himself and his love for others (whether he is consciously aware of this fact or not is none of my concern, he’s an idiot and I love him). Arthur’s approach is flawed as well, but it’s flawed in a much more harmful way. To assume that every course of action you take is a justified one without taking into account the people you are engaging with is just asking to step on people’s comfort zones. You fundamentally cannot be sensitive without context; it is the prerequisite of any form of compassion or kindness. The reason people like Leonardo or Comte succeed at making friends and gathering others around them is that they are very active and attentive when it comes to interacting with other people. They pay close attention to a person’s sensitivities. What subjects bother them? What is their body language telling me? How do the circumstances contribute to what they’re feeling, and how can I distract or alleviate in a way that is productive? While this seems like a robotic process--an obvious one--when laid out like this, it’s much more complicated and requires a great deal of experience to perfect in real time. Their charisma is absolutely hard won; it took them hundreds of years of trial and error to get there.

And, more than anything, Comte and Leonardo and Dazai practically exude good will. They aren’t just skilled at dealing with people and that’s why they don’t debacle as much as Arthur does in his attempts to reach out. Those three truly want nothing more than to see people at ease. When others are in distress, they feel it as though it were their own. They don’t assess pain in terms of false equivalence, to my understanding--they think that everyone’s experience is different, but no less troubling for that fact. Arthur, on the other hand, tends to be a lot more focused on himself. I’m in so much pain, I’m so upset about how the world is overwhelming me, I’m the one that should be angry/crying/upset right now not you. One thing I want to highlight here is that I don’t mean to belittle Arthur’s suffering; I have no doubt that he’s seen his share of heartache and that he needs real help (therapy for the love of god). But that doesn’t make his constant insistence on making things about him okay. It doesn’t make his bitterness with people that choose to look after the feelings of others okay.

And here, is where we get to the crux of this reply. It is my understanding that the reason Arthur harbors so much resentment towards Dazai is what I have just stated two sentences ago. Arthur sees how Dazai copes with similar crippling fear of the world’s difficulties, and not only does he manage to conceal it better--he also just sincerely gives a damn about people. And not only does it show, it makes people feel a great deal of warmth for Dazai, even if he’s crazy weird. I think Arthur really does envy this capacity for flexibility, the impressive way Dazai can move with the flow of things. Arthur is so set in the past, is so desperate to find happiness that he will strangle what little he has between his own two hands. Dazai knows happiness is never guaranteed, and has given up trying to claim it. Instead he just does his best every day, even if he feels like a failure by the end of it all.

Perhaps yet another reason Arthur is upset at Dazai could be Dazai’s easy willingness to give up on himself without listening to the protests of others in regards to the subject, much like how Dazai hates it when Isaac gives up despite so much well-meaning potential...

So yeah! That’s how I understand their similarities and differences c:

#asks #ikevamp #ikemen vampire #ikevamp meta #ikevamp arthur #ikevamp dazai #a lot of their differences honestly just have to do with maturity #i respect arthur stans but arthur is fundamentally a jaded middle schooler with no concept of reality #dazai is just a sweet but stupid noodle that has no concept of his own self-worth ;-;#it honestly makes me really sad that he's so profoundly motivated by other people's happiness #and he's still convinced he's a disgusting fake that deserves nothing #it really hurts to watch...#in conclusion: we care Dazai but Dazai does not care Dazai and so love is war

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shiekah-marine-embassy · 3 years

Text

How Did We Get Here?

A summary of an upcoming tale about my character Anderson, inspired by my own recent struggles.

Anderson spends several days comatose. Wakes up in an unfamiliar place, bound tightly to chair. Is unable to speak. Minutes later, attacker walks in. Attacker commentates on how Anderson was found on the coastline (attacker’s territory) in Yiga Attire. This was received as a threat and Anderson is now subject to imprisonment, torture for information, and Master Kohga will be contacted for ransom arrangements.

Anderson displays elevated levels of distress, which continually continues to increase as the attacker gets closer to establishing contact. The operation is temporarily forfeited when his screaming and begging is so loud that the gag may as well not have been there. Attacker displays frustration and confusion at Anderson’s distress, which is extreme even given the situation he is in.

Attacker removes the gag, and Anderson takes some time to compose himself before explaining that he was actually on the run from the Yiga, after a demon god accused him of treason and sabotage, turning his former lover, several of his friends, and the clan leaders against him. In the ensuing fight he managed to slaughter his ex-lover, incapacitate the right-hand man, severely wound the leader and demon god, and just as quickly made an escape.

He expresses fear and concern that if the leaders were to be made aware of his whereabouts, they would most definitely want him back for the sole purpose of subjecting him to what he describes as a “fate worse than death”, and that traitors and killers like him are not killed, but instead brutally and slowly tormented for the rest of their lives. Anderson undergoes extreme emotional distress and remorse upon recalling the events and is no longer able to compose himself to form words.

Attacker is skeptical, and comments on how the story sounds quite unbelievable. However, despite their skepticism, attacker agrees to not contact Master Kohga right away, and instead will bring the matter up with their boss. As collateral, though, it will be necessary that he is kept heavily restrained until it can be proven that he is not here on a sabotage mission. Several interrogations will follow for the next few days, sedatives will be administered as necessary, and any noncompliance will be met with unrelenting punishment.

Anderson reluctantly agrees, deciding that a few days of hell would be better than a lifetime and maybe more of unbearable agony. The attacker acknowledges, re-gags him twice over, blindfolds the man, and plugs his ears. They then shut off the light to the cell and secure the door, leaving to presumably report this new development to the boss. Anderson then experiences a full mental breakdown, crying and thrashing against his restraints until he passes out.

An approximate 16 hours pass before someone enters the cell, and removes the captive’s earplugs- but leaves all other forms of restraints in. This person is presumed to be the boss- and their footsteps can be heard pacing the cell as they begin to mark on the preposterousness of the captive’s story. Anderson cannot shake hearing a certain familiarity in the boss’s voice, but nonetheless is terrified of what is to come of the situation.

Very shortly after, boss slowly removes the blindfold. Is revealed to be the Captain Sonii of the Shiekah Marine Embassy, and she remarks on how this wouldn’t be the first time that the Yiga try to break in by pretending a part of the clan was betrayed by the others. However, she does admit that there is a certain sadness, fear, and fury in his eyes that she has not seen before.

Captain Sonii continues on by saying that she does know what there is a demon god that stands by the Yiga, and that Anderson must have done something drastic to anger the entity so much- to which the captive responds by squeezing his eyes shut and turning his head away. It seems that the Shiekah Captain is able to infer the source of his distress.

She goes on to remark that, if her intuition is correct, she could draw the fact that Anderson was falsely accused of treason, to which the captive replies with surprise and looks back at her. Captain Sonii chuckled and begins to explain that the whole reason the Shiekah Marine Embassy was founded was to give those who have been framed, misinterpreted, and accused a second chance. And she herself was one of those victims and built this army so no one would have to suffer the way she did, having no one to fall back on.

She concludes that, if there are no rescue attempts by any Yiga within the next three months, she will offer him a high-ranking position on the crew. However, until then, he is not to be left unrestrained, and under constant remote surveillance. Other stipulations follow, along with warning him that in the meanwhile he will be interrogated regarding both the Yiga Clan, and the events that conspired up until his capture.

She appears to snicker to herself, before producing a small knife, and explains how misinformation and fabrication are not tolerated. She begins to draw the knife very slowly up his throat, merely slitting the skin open and deliberately avoiding airways and major arteries, all the while making delicate yet terrifying threats about the consequences if he truly is lying and plans on sabotaging them.

He withholds his pain and terror- yet still in agreement with himself that as bad as things were now, they at least have an ending in sight. The captain notes his resilience, and reminds him of the stipulations one more time, before dismissing herself. Anderson seems relieved that she is gone, and several nightmares within the following few days about what would happen should he be captured by the Yiga confirm his confidence that this is the better option.

Over the following few months, his restrictions are gradually loosened, from a few weeks of full body restraints to a few weeks of wrist and ankle shackles and the allowance of basic entertainment, to simple handcuffs and special requests of food, to complete freedom to move about his cell and partake in recreations under supervision.

After a period of a little over three months, he is called in to be formally interviewed by the boss. He explains that his specialties lie in the operation of, hijacking, and repair of hardware is his specialty, along with an innate knowledge of robotics and machinery. He goes on to admit that he is the owner of a divine beast and use that divine beast in any missions they may need it for.

Under the agreement that she is allowed to connect the divine beast to the Embassy’s centralized army database, to which Anderson shows no opposition to, she hires him and as promised is given the title of leader of the tech division, more specifically the hardware sector, while he will be working aside another leader, August Staghorn, who oversees the software sector. He is given his own room and is now allotted all the freedoms and benefits of a level 3 crew member.

August and Anderson were initially very hesitant about one another, Anderson being intimidated by the software leader’s large stature and reluctance to speak, and August being intimidated by the hardware leader’s very apparent stoicism and distrust. However, as time goes on, they learn more about one another- Anderson learns that August is mute and communicates completely nonverbally (although he can hear and comprehend things perfectly fine), and August learns that Anderson suffers from a small case of Autism Spectrum Disorder and sometimes has trouble handling himself.

Both, in secret, study for months on end about the other’s problems; Anderson teaches himself to both use and interpret sign language, and August teaches himself how to effectively communicate with, comfort, and understand people with neurological disorders. They gradually become more compatible with one another, but neither seem to really notice any large change until they are put on a collaborative project together.

The two and their teams are instructed to begin work on a new semi-terrestrial divine beast construct. The ease at which they have communicating with one another seems to surprise them both, as each admits that they spent a long time studying how to communicate with the other more effectively. Upon realizing, both are overwhelmed with a feeling of rejoice and instantly embrace, getting emotional over one another.

August then goes onto admit that he had admired Anderson ever since he joined the tech division and heard about what happened to him beforehand. August expresses his empathy and admits that while his stature may be big, he considers himself to be rather meek. He reveals a bit more about himself, and states that the reason he was hired here was due to five or six years back, he was subject to a series of tests against his consent and ultimately had his vocal cords completely dissolved which led to him not being able to speak, and complications eating.

Due to these complications and receiving no compensation for the damage done, and the perpetrators never caught, he ended up losing the job he had and not being able to pay rent. He couldn’t find any new jobs either due to any hirer’s lack of understanding of his condition and refusing to change their policies. Ultimately he came down to Lurelin where he intended to spend what he presumed were his last days, alone.

However, at that time, the Shiekah Marine Embassy was surveying the area and they pulled August aside for questioning about his apparent loitering around the area. When he could not answer the soldier, he was asked to attend an interview with an interpreter and the boss, where he explained his story. The captain immediately could tell he had exceptional potential that others couldn’t see, and he was offered a position.

The two go on to discuss how the captain is quite the powerful woman; she clearly went through a lot of effort to found this army and is quite ruthless- but at the same time seems to have an innate understanding and compassion for those who have been wronged, just hidden behind a cold, yet ambitious exterior. Anderson admitted that he wasn’t so sure about her first, but soon came to realize that regardless of how tough she is, what was most important to him was her understanding.

August commentates that he knows about Anderson’s distrust of having a significant other and expressing affection and did not know how long it would take him to heal from that traumatic event. Regardless he confesses that he has feelings for Anderson, however, to the other’s surprise, reciprocates those same feelings, stating that he was truly taken back by how much August put into being able to communicate and understand him better, something that no one in the past had done before.

August humbly dismisses it as nothing more than something he was passionate about and should not be praised so highly for. Anderson intervenes, however, by mentioning that he knows that the two of them would not have studied each other’s issues without their knowledge if they were not meant for this. August cannot supply an argument against this, and thus, their relationship is made official.

And so, life continues on, there are ups and downs, but one thing is certain- there’s definitely room for a whole series here.

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 4 years

Text

RWBY / Danganronpa AU write-up:

(After watching Game Grumps play DR this morning, I’ve had Danganronpa on the mind. So, I decided to write this up for fun)

Set-up: In an alternate universe, teams RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, and CFVY are invited to attend Hope’s Peak Academy, the next step to becoming Huntsmen and Huntresses after graduating from Beacon Academy. Monokuma traps the students there and forces them to kill each other in order to escape.

Chapter 1

The motive for this round is “memory wipe”. If no one is killed in 24 hours, then their loved ones’ memories of them will be wiped out. No one will remember them outside of the school. This freaks out Yatsuhashi Daichi in particular due to his past traumatic experiences with his semblance. And sure enough, he is the first student to die.

During the class trial, the students have a hard time determining who the killer is. As they uncover the truth piece by piece, they soon discover that Yatsuhashi was not as innocent as it seemed. It turns out, he was actually PLANNING on committing a murder of his own. Ruby Rose then starts to wonder if Yatsuhashi was killed in self-defense, that he had actually carried out his plan but failed and was killed by his would-be victim.

The students are about to give up until Nora Valkyrie points out that Yatsuhashi has an unexplained broken rib. The wound wasn’t fatal, which is why the students opted to ignore it. That’s when Ruby realizes that the injury could’ve been caused by a really strong punch.

Cue the “CHOOSE THE GUILTY PERSON” minigame and Ruby selects Yang Xiao Long. After a long back-and-forth of Ruby picking apart the evidence and testimonies, as well as Yang defending herself, Ruby eventually proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Yang killed Yatsuhashi in self-defense. Yang breaks down, wondering if she inherited Uncle Qrow’s misfortune semblance.

Yang’s execution: Yang fights several robots dressed as the White Fang. Suddenly, she’s cornered by a robot dressed as Adam Taurus. Yang tries to fight him but Adam-bot strikes first, cutting off her arm (just like the show). This time, Adam-bot finishes the job by cutting off Yang’s other limbs before decapitating her.

(students eliminated: Yatsuhashi Daichi, Yang Xiao Long / 14 students remaining)

(quick note: just like the actual Danganronpa series, I killed off Yang in the first chapter since the games killed off someone you thought would have been a major character for the rest of the game. Sayaka in DR1, Byakuya in DR2, and Kaede in DR3)

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Chapter 2

The motive for this round is “2 lies and a truth”. The group is given three statements about each other, 2 of which are false and 1 which is true. To prevent the students from just confirming which is true and which is false, Monokuma clarifies that any student who reveals the information in their cards will be killed instantly. This greatly increases the paranoia among the group. Just to give an example of this motive, Ruby’s statements are:

1) Weiss Schnee’s sister, Winter, arrested Qrow Branwen for murder, which he was framed for (in this alternate universe, this turns out to be the true statement but was written by Monokuma out of context in order to make Ruby hate Weiss)

2) Blake Belladonna’s parents scammed Taiyang Xiao Long out of a deal that would’ve made him millions of liens.

3) Lie Ren mocked Summer Rose after her death and has even pissed on her tombstone

And the victim of this round is...Sage Ayana. During the class trial, the group discusses whether anyone had any statements involving Sage. The only ones who do turn out to be Jaune, Coco, and Blake. Ruby proves that Coco was in her room at the time of the murder while Blake is cleared by Sun Wukong (he says something about how Blake needed him for help with a special project).

Side note: Blake later reveals that her special project was investigating the academy to find any clues regarding Monokuma’s identity and what happened to Hope’s Peak.

This leaves Jaune. After prying him for information, Jaune reveals that his statement about Sage was, “Sage Ayana was planning on blackmailing Jaune’s family after finding out he forged his transcripts”. Everyone starts suspecting Jaune of being the killer because of this. Then, surprisingly, Jaune admits to killing Sage.

However, after analyzing the evidence, Ruby realizes that Jaune is innocent and is trying to cover for the real killer. Reasoning that Jaune would only do this for people he cared for, Ruby then realizes that the killer has to be someone from JNPR. And that person turns out to be...Pyrrha Nikos.

Despite Jaune’s attempts to defend Pyrrha, Ruby eventually proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Pyrrha killed Sage. After admitting defeat, Pyrrha says that she killed Sage on accident. She and Jaune had confronted Sage and, after a heated argument, Jaune and Sage started fighting. Pyrrha intervened, resulting in Sage’s death.

Pyrrha’s execution: Just like the show, Pyrrha is killed by incineration. However, before she dies, Pyrrha sees that the people “responsible” for killing her are robots made to look like JN_R.

(students eliminated: Sage Ayana, Pyrrha Nikos / 12 students remaining)

(quick note: just like the actual games, the execution in this chapter is meant to propel one character’s arc forward. Mondo in DR1 and Peko in DR2)

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Chapter 3

The motive for this round is control of the Schnee Dust Company. This immediately makes the group wary of Weiss, believing that she’ll try to murder someone in order to maintain control of her family’s business. Weiss tries to convince Ruby that she won’t do such a thing but Ruby, for the first time, is unconvinced of her friend’s intentions.

This chapter is especially brutal since we have two murders to deal with. The first turns out to be Fox Alistair. Then, several minutes later, Neptune Vasilias ends up dead.

The class trial for this chapter is especially complicated due to the two murders. First, the students find out that Neptune was the one who murdered Fox. Ruby wonders if Neptune wanted control of the Schnee Dust Company, to which Sun Wukong says that doesn’t sound like Neptune to him. When the students dig further into the evidence, they start to wonder if Neptune was working with someone.

Ruby proposes the theory that Neptune was ordered by someone to kill Fox. He was then killed by that same person so that the unknown person can claim credit for a murder and to create a complicated scenario that would help them avoid being exposed in trial. This leads to the students turning against Weiss. Ruby points out that Weiss had the most to lose from this motivation and that it would’ve been easy for her to get Neptune to do her dirty work for her (they are still romantically involved in this universe).

After a round of intense questioning, Weiss finally breaks down and reveals that she did indeed plan everything out. She got Neptune to kill Fox and then planned to kill Neptune to complete her plan. However, she swears that she didn’t kill him. Someone else got to Neptune before she could.

When Ruby wonders who else had a reason to kill Neptune, she realizes that the only people who could have a reason would have to be someone close to Fox. This person would also had to have seen Neptune kill Fox and were angered to the point of taking revenge, knowing that would make them the guilty party in the class trial. Ruby then narrows the suspects to two people; Fox’s teammates, Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina.

After another intense round of questioning and battling both Coco and Velvet’s arguments, Coco finally admits to killing Neptune. She says that she saw the whole thing and because she was still dealing with Yatsuhashi’s death, she just “snapped”. Coco then bitterly remarks that if she had kept her cool and let Weiss go through with her plan, she would’ve gotten her revenge anyways since Weiss would’ve been exposed in trial.

Coco’s execution: In a bit of irony, Coco is killed by Monokuma with her own miniguns

(students eliminated: Fox Alistair, Neptune Vasilias, Coco Adel / 9 students remaining)

(quick note: just like the games, 3 students are eliminated this round. Also, yes, this is a variation of the Celestia Ludenberg case)

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Chapter 4

The motivation for this round is...nothing! Monokuma says that he was going to give them one but, based on the previous chapter, the group doesn’t need one due to Weiss’ presence. No one, not even Ruby, feels comfortable being around Weiss, despite all her attempts to get people to trust her again.

Eventually, the group does start to warm up to Weiss again. However, that’s when Monokuma intervenes and claims that he helped Weiss with her plot to kill Fox and Neptune. When Ruby asks how he helped her, Monokuma says that in exchange for information on how to best accomplish her murder scheme, Weiss acted as his “mole” by reporting to him directly about the group’s actions. This further enrages the group, especially Blake since she’s been trying to find a way out of Hope’s Peak Academy.

Just as the group is about to imprison Weiss, she ends up dead. Ruby finds Weiss’ body in her room, apparently having committed suicide. Ruby even finds a suicide note by Weiss’ bedside drawer.

The class trial is initially seen as a piece of cake since it’s clear that Weiss committed suicide. It’s only Ruby and Blake who are unconvinced. They insist that the group review the evidence anyways since there might be something they’re missing.

As the groups digs deeper into the evidence, the students realize that there was indeed more to this death than they originally thought. It turns out, Weiss DIDN’T commit suicide. Someone took advantage of the group’s paranoia surrounding Weiss and her own guilt from the previous trial. They then killed Weiss and made it look like she killed herself out of despair.

The group then starts flip-flopping on who could’ve done this. First, the group targets Velvet since she could’ve been seeking to avenge Coco and Fox. Then, the group targets Sun Wukong since he was friends with Neptune and may have been furious over how his friend was manipulated.

Eventually, the group exposes the true killer: Scarlet David. Turns out, he also had the same idea as everyone else and was hoping that the group would focus on Velvet and Sun. Scarlet then says that he had nothing against Weiss, it was purely just to survive. However, he also says that he was justified in what he did due to Weiss’ actions in chapter 3.

Scarlet’s execution: Scarlet is incased in ice. He is then crushed to death by Weiss’ Arma Gigas as a bit of ironic revenge from beyond the grave.

(students eliminated: Weiss Schnee, Scarlet David / 7 students remaining)

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Chapter 5

As the penultimate chapter, Blake’s side mission that was mentioned earlier takes the forefront. Since chapter 2, Blake, Sun, Ruby, and Jaune have been working together to solve the mystery of Hope’s Peak Academy, Monokuma, and what happened to them. In their investigation, the group discovers that a “great disaster” happened to Remnant and that it somehow involves Monokuma.

There is no motivation this round once again. However, someone still ends up dead. The unlucky student this time around is...Nora Valkyrie. Ren is especially angered by this since Nora was his best friend/the person he was technically “together-together” with. During the investigation, Ruby is troubled by the fact that the evidence she’s been collecting doesn’t paint a logical picture. Unlike the previous murders, Nora’s death seems...unnatural. Like it shouldn’t have happened.

The class trial for this case is arguably the toughest of the 6 trials. Nothing seems to go anywhere and, despite the breakthroughs made by Ruby, none of the evidence adds up to anything. Ruby then starts to suspect something about this trial; what if this trial is rigged?

Ruby’s suspicions are somewhat confirmed when the group starts honing in on Blake and herself. Ren and Velvet accuse Blake and Ruby of being aloof from the group, to which they defend themselves by saying that they have their reasons for being on their own. Ruby starts to realize that this is what Monokuma wants and that Monokuma may have killed Nora himself in order to set up a case in which the only answer was either Blake or herself.

Before Ruby can bring this up, Monokuma claims that he had nothing to do with Nora’s death. Knowing that the situation is doomed and that it was between her and Blake, Ruby takes the fall by saying that she has no alibi. Blake tries to stop Ruby from taking the fall but the group overrides her arguments. Ruby is voted off and, much to Blake and Ruby’s surprise, Monokuma proclaims that the group got the right answer.

Ruby’s “execution”: Ruby is taken to an angry crowd where she’s laid down on a tree stump. An executioner wielding Crescent Rose appears, preparing to decapitate her. Before he can, Jaune Arc arrives and helps Ruby escape. To ensure Ruby survives, Jaune tosses Ruby down a garbage disposal chute. He’s then stabbed through the back by the executioner, killing him instantly. However, he dies with a smile on his face, knowing that he saved Ruby.

(students eliminated: Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc / 5 students remaining)

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Chapter 6

Ruby wakes up in the garbage disposal, hazy but alive. As she gathers her bearings, she’s met by Blake Belladonna, who had jumped into a different garbage disposal chute to save her. Ruby and Blake make their way out of the area and back to the main lobby. When Monokuma says that Ruby has to be executed due to Jaune’s interference, Blake argues that Ruby should never have been declared guilty in the first place due to the previous trial being obviously rigged. Blake then says that they deserve a re-trial and if Ruby is declared guilty once again, then they will respect the verdict.

Monokuma reluctantly agrees to this, leading to Ruby and Blake realizing that Monokuma is purely observing their actions. He won’t actually involve himself in their deaths and actively encourages them to solve the murders on their own. It was almost as if he wanted them to solve their problems themselves.

Ruby, Blake, Ren, Sun, and Velvet reconnect and, after squashing any previous feelings of distrust, agree to work together to solve Nora’s murder once and for all. In the class trial, the group hits all the same snags they hit in Chapter 5. However, this time, the group approaches the situation as if Nora’s death was rigged. That’s when Ruby realizes that they need to figure out how Nora even died in the first place.

When Ruby digs further into the evidence, Ruby realizes that Nora’s death was purely a freak occurrence. Turns out, she suffered a random brain aneurysm that had nothing to do with any of the investigations. After making this clear, the group discussion turns to who arranged her body to make it seem like she was murdered.

After confirming that none of the group was involved in arranging Nora’s body (including Jaune), Ruby points to Monokuma as being responsible. Monokuma once again declares he had nothing to do with Nora’s death, to which Ruby points out a loophole; Monokuma DIDN’T kill Nora, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t arrange the scene afterwards. Ruby then points out that Monokuma used Nora’s sudden death to his advantage to get the group to turn against herself and Blake.

With his act exposed, Monokuma decides to reveal himself. And it turns out that Monokuma this whole time was...Ozpin. Just then, the rest of Hope’s Peak Academy’s staff and students (who are really just the Beacon Academy staff) enter the trial room and congratulate the surviving students. Even the students’ families are there to cheer them on.

The students are shocked when they hear the explanation behind Hope’s Peak Academy. Ozpin reveals that the entire mystery of Hope’s Peak Academy was just a set-up for the real experiment. This entire process, the true purpose of the killing game, was to weed out the weak students. He says that, due to the coming of the dark lord known as “Salem”, they needed Huntsmen and Huntresses who could survive the harshest of challenges. So, Ozpin and the rest of the Hope’s Peak staff devised the “Danganronpa experiment”. They would torture the potential students mentally and physically and those who were able to figure out Monokuma’s identity and survive the challenges would be fit to graduate to the second-level of Huntsman and Huntress training in Hope’s Peak.

Ruby is horrified by this revelation. When she says that her family wouldn’t have approved of this, that’s when she sees that Qrow Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long are in the room as well. They congratulate her on surviving “Danganronpa”, saying that she has what it takes to be a Huntress. They then reveal that they also survived a version of “Danganronpa”, which further shocks Ruby since they never told her about their experiences in Hope’s Peak. The game ends on that bittersweet note.

Survivors: Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Lie Ren, Sun Wukong, Velvet Scarlatina

#rwby #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #pyrrha nikos #lie ren #sun wukong #scarlet david #sage ayana #neptune vasilias #coco adel #fox alistair #velvet scarlatina #yatsuhashi daichi #danganronpa

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foxwine · 4 years

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I've been having a long, fascinating conversation on twitter lately about the Overwatch AIs and their ability to have/experience emotions, which brought to mind that I have some very strong opinions/headcanons with regards to the various AI in Overwatch. So I thought I'd get them written down.

One of those headcanons being that there are various AI systems in the Overwatch universe. Currently three, by my count. Firstly, and most commonly would be the AI running on the Omnica OS, then Orisa and Echo, who are each running on their own unique OS.

Most of my headcanons center around the Omnica system. I think, in universe, they were the first ones to actually create AI, though I'm not so sure that they did it on purpose. The thing that I bear in mind is that Omnica was a corporation, not a research conglomerate or a university project. The Omnic OS was made to DO something.

Which is where we get to what I think the Omnic God AIs are. I see them as a large central computer 'brain' with a large number of semi-autonomous bodies, linked together into a kind of hive-mind. And when these bodies are severed from the main 'brain', that's when they develop an individual sense of self and become like Zenyatta or Maximilien, separate entities from the God AI that spawned them. And, once separated, the majority of Omnics don't want to go back, which is why in the Pharah-centric comic Mission Statement the omnic in her unit self-destructed rather than allowing itself to be taken over by Anubis.

This hive-mind nature of the God AIs would be very useful for a variety of things, because as I pointed out, Omnica was a business. I personally see them as a Chinese company, who first started creating these hive computer systems to run and staff sweatshops and manufacturing. And as their systems got better and more complex, they started selling them all over the world.

A handful or two in the middle east,running oilfields. A fancy, underwater mind to fish the Indian Sea and do some geological and ecological surveys while its down there.One in Mexico that ran all the farms owned by a massive conglomerate that feeds a large portion of the country. One in NYC that runs the entire transit system. Another just off the coast in LA monitoring and controlling the shipping. One on the shore in Greece or Macedonia doing something extremely complicated to generate electricity from the tides and waves. A very fancy one in Germany just outside Berlin that is one gigantic town-sized mall where every clerk knows the inventory of every store. Another in Egypt that is a very expensive bespoke manufacturer of extreme luxury goods. One in Siberia that started out running the mines, and was later expanded into manufacturing. And so on.

AI, a sense of self, was probably not intended at all. It's just that once you reach a certain complexity of thought and learning... well. The way I see it, the God AIs came into their individual sense of self gradually, having all started from the same genesis code, and that they chose their own names (and sometimes genders) based on their roles, perception of self, and the local pantheon of where they were installed.

Possibly Omnica ignored this as long as they were doing what they were told to. Possibly there were 'blocks' or 'limiters' patched in to suppress them that were later broken somehow just before or even during the Crisis. It would be hard to say, in the absence of canon material on the subject.

(As an aside, I'm not convinced, in that framework, that Anubis was always named Anubis, since I would sincerely hope that even a major city in Egypt like Cairo or Giza wouldn't have enough dead people to process that they would purchase what would have been an extremely expensive computer/robot system todo it. 'Anubis' was their war name, though, and that's the one that they're remembered by.)

Omnica had very different plans than making AI, in the way I see things. The interesting thing I saw inthe canon material on the lead-up to the Omnic Crisis was that Omnica was shut down, apparently, for corporate espionage. Stealing plans. Specifically, plans for weapons.

I worked my way mentally around this. The canon details we're given are that the Crisis was world-wide, that it occurred shortly after Omnica was shut down for stealing weapon designs, and that each God AI had to be shut down individually. So, I came by my thought that the God AIs were spread worldwide because they were being used for things other than combat.

Mainly because I have just enough faith in what I know of human nature and proof of jingoism to find it hard to believe that war/battle within the next few decades would be conducted almost entirely by units provided by a single corporate entity. Which was also making and selling units with the same OS for rebuilding.

So, what I think is that Omnica, with or without the backing of the Chinese government at the time, was planning a surprise very hostile takeover. Of everywhere. But they weren't sneaky enough and they got caught. And then, two possibilities come to mind; either by malice or crossed wires the switch for total war got flipped anyway without a “but not this group” parameter set, or the God AIs, thinking that with the shutdown of Omnica they were all about to be killed decided to do it to humanity first, using the weapon plans they had already been provided. Both options make a lot of sense in the framework I've patched together, and I'm not sure which one I favour the most out of the two.

Which is where we come to my personal feelings and headcanons when it comes to the identity and role of Athena.

I like to take her name rather literally: that she is an Omnic God AI that was created from code that was ripped directly out of the 'head' of a Grecian God AI that had named itself Zeus. My personal hc is that this was done by a member of what was then proto-Overwatch during the Crisis, but in the twitter conversation, another interesting thought came up that hadn't occurred to me at all; that Athena might have done it herself –that she was originally a module of Zeus that went 'rogue', and separated.

Either way, I think she fought in the Crisis, on Overwatch's side. Since I basically see the God AIs as a hive entity held together with the future equivalent of bluetooth, I imagine her being able to project a counter-field, one that confuses or possibly even severs the connection of the omnic bodies from the main brain, allowing the human Overwatch unit to get to the physical location of the brain and put it into a sleep mode.

There has to be a reason the God AIs weren't destroyed. Perhaps there was some sort of failsafe, where if the brain is destroyed an automatic system rebuilds it and installs a backup, so that destruction would be more like trying to press down a bubble in the carpet. Perhaps breaking the main brain also breaks all the associated units and upon realizing that the omnics were thinking beings with a sense of self the decision was made to not wipe them out. Perhaps it's a slightly different variation of the bump in the carpet: if you destroy the main brain one of the units becomes themain brain and you then have to find them and get to them all over again. Whatever it was, the God AIs were left intact in canon.

Perhaps after the Crisis, it was Athena's job to monitor the God AIs, to make sure they remained in sleep mode and thus nonthreatening. But when Overwatch was shut down, she lost her connection. I remember, in the Sombra cinematic that Volskaya said that the units she was inspecting were the first new ones made in “over a decade”. Why, I wonder, had Russia not needed new designs in so long? And what happened over ten years ago that made them build new ones then? Overwatch was still active then, though going by what we have of an official timeline, that would havebeen around the time of Retribution, or shortly before it. Hmm.

There's also one other being that merits mention when it comes to my headcanons about omnic God AIs, and that would be The Iris. Which I firmly believe is an omnic God AI that did not participate in the Crisis because it either didn't get the memo or rejected it, and is still fully awake and functional after the Crisis ends. And that its a curious sort of personality, and is experimenting by occasionally cutting a unit or two loose to become individuals just to see who they are or what they will do, which is how we got Mondatta, Zenyatta, and probably a few 'sibling' units of theirs, who are currently the only omnics in the canon Overwatch cast both in and out of the game who are known to be younger than the end of the Crisis.

I think, after some discussion with and ideas from my partner, who is my sounding board for the majority of my writing, that The Iris was not created by Omnica directly, rather that it is a 'child' spun off of one of the China-based God AIs in secret and hidden in the mountains of Nepal under a convincingly old-looking monastery. As for why, I've been able to think of several reasons, but haven't been able to settle on one of them.

It could be that the parent God AI was aware of Omnica's plans for world domination and knowing that it couldn't refuse to participate made a version of itself that could.Or it might have been an experiment, to see whether they could create a 'child', or if it would be a double of themself. Perhaps it was an escape attempt, a secret backup that didn't quite work out as planned. It may even be that Omnica was indeed limiting the God AI's sense of self in some way as my twitter conversation partner postulated, and a God AI who noticed created a secret, deliberately “jailbroken” version of itself in rebellion.

So much is only vaguely defined inOverwatch canon, so it's impossible to say which option is more plausible than the rest.

My ideas about Omnic God AIs and The Iris itself also puts a very interesting spin on the Shambali religion – particularly the “we are all One within The Iris” part – which makes my writer's senses all tingly.

All of this is just headcanon worldbuilding at this point. It would be more useful directly if I were to write a fanfic of the Crisis itself, but I must admit that I would have no idea where or even when to start. Plus, I have all my plans for my Back to the Fold series, which is currently sitting at thirty-one planned fics, only twelve of which are written as yet. Maybe by the time I finish them I'll have more of an idea whether or how to do a Crisis fic.

#Foxwine is worldbuilding #Overwatch #AI #omnics #headcanon #so much headcanon #this universe is fun to play in

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mediaeval-muse · 4 years

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Book Review

Not Quite A Husband. By Sherry Thomas. New York: Bantam, 2009.

Rating: 1.5/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, Marsdens #2

Summary: Their marriage lasted only slightly longer than the honeymoon—to no one’s surprise, not even Bryony Asquith’s. A man as talented, handsome, and sought after by society as Leo Marsden couldn't possibly want to spend his entire life with a woman who rebelled against propriety by becoming a doctor. Why, then, three years after their annulment and half a world away, does he track her down at her clinic in the remotest corner of India? Leo has no reason to think Bryony could ever forgive him for the way he treated her, but he won’t rest until he’s delivered an urgent message from her sister—and fulfilled his duty by escorting her safely back to England. But as they risk their lives for each other on the journey home, will the biggest danger be the treacherous war around them—or their rekindling passion?

***Full review under the cut.***

Content/Trigger Warnings: dubious consent, infidelity, blood, animal death

Overview: I originally picked this book up because it was on Bustle’s list of feminist romances. I had some success with this list before - I adored The Suffragette Scandal and had a lot of respect for The Raven Prince, so the story of a female doctor defying societal expectations sounded up my alley. Unfortunately, that was the only thing I liked about this book. In general, Not Quite A Husband is not written with a strong sense of direction, and I don’t think it qualifies as “feminist” due to the lack of clear consent during some of the intimate scenes. I didn’t give this book zero or one star because I did like Bryony as a doctor, and her personality was different than a lot of romance heroines I’ve read, but on the whole, I found this book very difficult to enjoy.

Writing: Thomas’ prose is rather plain. While I don’t think romances need to have high brow, poetic, literary prose, I do think they still need to evoke the setting and emotion in order to immerse the reader in the story. While Thomas did have some phrases that did so, much of the book felt like a list of facts or telling rather than showing. The prose didn’t linger on emotional of physical sensations, so the emotional moments didn’t feel weighty and the intimate moments felt robotic. While we get flashbacks so we can see where characters are coming from, we are mostly told rather than shown how characters are feeling in the current moment. For example: “Shame. Self-loathing. Frustration They churned in him, enough to drown him outright” (p. 146). While the hydraulic imagery is nice, I don’t exactly *feel* the hero’s anguish in this passage. Nothing of his inner monologue or POV builds on the feeling of being overwhelmed or unsettled, especially since the scene promptly moves on to dialogue and some exposition.

The scenes themselves also felt awkwardly structured. Thomas had the tendency to end a scene and move on to the next section without giving the reader a sense of purpose or closure. For example, there is one scene where the characters take a break from traveling; our heroine thinks about the region and how she doesn’t want to leave the hero. She becomes overheated, so she fans herself, and our hero speaks to her about the weather. The scene ends with him thinking how beautiful she is. To me, these scenes felt awkward because they didn’t revolve around a milestone in the relationship or reveal much about the characters. The characters don’t discuss the heroine’s feelings about parting, nor does she contemplate how her desire to remain with him are complicated, and we already know the hero is attracted to the heroine at this point, so nothing new is revealed. It just felt like a scene that went nowhere and was just inserted to fill space.

Along similar lines, I think the flashbacks cut in at awkward times. Flashbacks are set apart from the main narrative of this book by italics, and frequently, these italics would interrupt the flow of a scene. I like flashbacks when they are done with a sense of purpose, informing the present action in ways that make the story richer. To me, it felt like flashbacks were inserted randomly in this book.

Plot: This book primarily follows our heroine, Bryony, as she and her ex-husband, Leo, travel back to England from India. Bryony’s sister has asked Leo to track Bryony down because their father is ill, and Leo agrees. The summary on the back of the book suggests that India is a war torn, or that the geography itself is threatening. While we do get some of that, I don’t think the travel narrative was all that exciting. The characters travel, it’s hot, they stop and instruct their guides/staff to make food, and they make puppy eyes at each other while thinking about their pasts. There wasn’t really a feeling of suspense because scenes didn’t build on one another - they just sort of happened, and there were few (if any) external forces that kept Bryony and Leo apart. As a result, I found the travel plot rather dull.

I also don’t think the travel narrative made for a good frame regarding the characters’ backstories. This book makes clear that it’s awkward for Bryony and Leo to travel together because they used to be married, but some event caused them to obtain an annulment and separate. On top of that, Bryony and Leo used to be childhood friends, and both have exciting lives as a doctor and a mathematics professor. None of this backstory seemed to be enriched by the travel narrative - characters weren’t prompted to speak or contemplate their pasts based on events happening in the present, so it felt like things were brought up randomly and for no other purpose than there was nothing else to do. For example, Leo brings out a chess board at one point and the two play a game, but it doesn’t prompt much discussion other than “I didn’t know you played” and “usually men won’t play with a woman who is better than they are.” I wanted to know more - is Bryony a calculating person? Is this a commentary on her life as a doctor/how men underestimate her? I didn’t get the sense that it was, and so many scenes felt empty because the travel narrative and the backstories didn’t line up. Granted, it could have been done differently; characters could have found the journey so boring that they have little else to do but ruminate on their thoughts, but because the writing didn’t evoke the feeling of boredom, I didn’t get the impression that this was the case.

About 2/3 through the book, our protagonists get caught up in one of the uprisings of 1897 in the Swat Valley. Things get a little more interesting from here, but in my opinion, the groundwork wasn’t laid very well to make the uprisings seem like a threat from the get go. I would have liked to have seen Bryony thinking more about how she wants to help people in such a conflict-torn area, or maybe more talk from the Indian characters about how the conflict has affected them. At the very least, I think the conflict could have been built up as the characters travelled, perhaps by them talking more about what they’ve heard about the area as well as the politics involved. Granted, the premise itself is complicated, as we’re following two British characters as they travel through India (there’s some colonial stuff there to untangle), but though I didn’t get the sense that India was being especially exoticized, I also didn’t get the sense that the setting was very important, either. Bryony and Leo could have been in any other location and I don’t think the basic narrative would have changed.

Characters: Bryony, our heroine, is a competent female physician with an aloof personality that is interpreted as cold. For the most part, I liked that Bryony didn’t fit the mold of romance heroines with more whimsical or warm personalities. It made for a different kind of reading experience. However, I don’t think enough was done to show Bryony as a complex character. Her coldness is connected to her childhood trauma and failed marriage, which could have been handled well if we were able to get inside Bryony’s head more. Because of the telling (as opposed to showing), it was hard to determine exactly how the past impacted Bryony in the present. I also would have liked to see Bryony in her job as a physician more, showing off her competence and connecting with patients to show that she’s not truly cold, she just shows emotion differently.

Leo, our hero, is somewhat bland. He’s apparently a mathematics genius, but he barely ever talks or thinks about math. He is shown to be good at running a household and handling logistics, as he plans the whole trip out of India and took care of staff and scheduling while married to Bryony. I wish he had more of an interest or background in using those skills (perhaps by running a business), and that these skills complemented Bryony’s more so that their relationship felt more complimentary. Instead, it seems to get brought up at random, so Leo’s defining characteristic seems to be that he’s attractive.

Bryony and Leo don’t get much interaction with secondary characters for a good chunk of the book. Bryony’s sister and father are like ghostly specters, heard but not seen until 2/3 through the story. The same is true of Leo’s family in that they are apparently very important to Leo, but we are told rather than shown that. By far the strangest choice regarding characters was the fact that during the entire trip out of India, Bryony and Leo are accompanied by a number of guides and staff, but I can’t recall a single line of direct speech from any of them. Given that barely anything happens on this trip, I thought it could have been an interesting opportunity for Indian characters to talk about their lives, or, at the very least, start building a sense of dread or suspense about the ongoing conflicts in the area. Having silent companions felt awkward because, well, we’re in India, but there are few interactions with Indian characters. They’re just there to be hired hands.

Other: I was not a fan of the romance in this book for one reason: neither character seemed to think it was important to get consent before engaging in sexual activities. I’m not saying that all intimate scenes need an explicit “can we have sex?” “Yes” exchange; what I mean is that I want it to be clear that when characters engage in such activity, it’s because they both want to do so. In Bryony and Leo’s case, there were many scenes where consent was unclear. The first time they have sex, Leo is delirious with fever and he just grabs her and penetrates her without thinking. Bryony goes along with it, but I was still very uncomfortable. Bryony likewise goes to Leo’s tent and starts having sex with him while he is asleep. Later, some flashbacks tell us that Leo used to have sex with Bryony despite her showing clear signs of not wanting to do so, and it got to the point where he would start having sex with her while she was asleep, so Bryony would lock her door at night. I hated this so much. I think the point was to show that Leo was trying to make Bryony less cold towards him, but it honestly felt like rape.

In addition to the dubious consent, I couldn’t quite get on board with the characters’ reasons for wanting to be with each other. It seemed that Leo was in love with Bryony in part because he idolized her when they were children, and in part because he wanted to bring her out of her shell. It would have been ok if Bryony’s flaws were actually flaws, and if he had used methods other than what I described above. Bryony, by contrast, just seemed to like Leo because he is attractive. The book states multiple times that she didn’t notice Leo that much as a child, and she only married him because she hoped his popularity would lend her credibility as a female doctor. They ultimately decide to love one another once they have a near-death experience, so all the real growth happens in the last 1/3 of the book.

It gets worse once it’s revealed that Bryony’s coldness stems from the fact that she caught Leo cheating during their engagement. Leo insists it was only one time, and I think that was done sincerely. I honestly wouldn’t have minded a plot where a hero has to gain his love interest’s trust back after such a thing. Where this went wrong for me is that Leo seemed to blame Bryony for the affair by saying she should have stopped him or called off the wedding, and instead of proving to her that he is sorry, he simply focuses on how much pain he is in. Granted, Leo does say that he did wrong and there was no excuse, but I didn��t see him as a kind, considerate enough lover to believe that he had learned or that he was putting Bryony’s well being ahead of his own desires.

Overall, I was disappointed in this book. Not only was the prose and structure rather lackluster, but the dubious consent was enough to put me off, and I’m still not sure if the author meant to portray Indians rebelling against the British as bad or just a thrilling adventure.

#book reviews

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halcyondigger · 4 years

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So, the lore for Mega Man Legends is hella deep and pretty much all contained within the sequel -- which is the game less people know about for some reason.

In the interest of that, for anybody curious and wanting a better understanding of just what I go on about, I’ve created a handy chonological bulletpoint sequence of events! Read on, if you’re so inclined!

Elysium is Born

Following one of Mega Man X5′s endings, Mega Man X, last creation of Dr. Light, chooses to finally ensure the safety of the surviving humanity after the fall of Eurasia by beginning work on the space colony “Elysium”, meant to be an artificial paradise where people could live in safety.

This project is eventually completed, and all remaining human life is migrated from the devastated planet’s surface into the care of the units housed on Elysium.

Centuries pass, with life support systems allowing humans to live well beyond their projected life expectancy, technology advances to the point where reploids end up phased out in favor of biomechanical units with biology similar to carbon-based lifeforms hybridized seamlessly with cybernetic components.

The new units become part of Elysium’s Master System, a colony-housed society with hierarchy amidst the units there, all centered around the ideal of caring for their human wards.

The Master System becomes headed by two sister “Mother Units”, Sera and Yuna, who produce and oversee further others to serve the Master System, upon which all subsequent units emerging after are as their subordinate offspring. At the same time, the Purifier Unit line to succeed the Maverick Hunters from olden days is formed, in order to deal with “Aberrant” units who malfunction or otherwise become a threat. Amongst this number is the First-Class Purifier Unit, Mega Man Trigger.

Over time, the human life aboard Elysium begins to naturally dwindle and die out. In order to combat this threat, Sera and Yuna take DNA samples of all that remain to be stored in a genetic Library in the heart of Elysium, a chamber charged to Sera personally to ensure that no existing force could threaten them.

In an attempt to ensure human life will flourish once more, Sera and Yuna coordinate with the oldest-living human, the Master, in creating a fodder race in the image of humans using the Master System units’ design as a foundation. They mass-seed the Earth, now referred to by codename of “Terra”, with with these life forms, thus creating the Carbon race.

The Carbon race eventually leads to unsatisfactory results in proving mankind can once again live on Terra. In order to reset the process and try again, Sera creates the Carbon Reinitialization System -- a process by which all Carbon life is erased from the planet to create a clean slate.

The Master, Trigger, and the Mother Units

As the Master loses all other human companions and becomes a revered existence within Elysium that no one dares to regard personally, he seeks out another in the form of Mega Man Trigger, chosen personally to be his attendant functionally while in reality for the purpose of becoming his close companion.

As Sera and Yuna repeatedly attempt to see if Terra is suitable for life periodically, the repeated extinctions cause the remnants of each Carbon line’s budding civilizations to coalesce with the lingering traces of the ancient human race, resulting in countless ruins becoming strewn across Terra.

As the Master and Mega Man Trigger spend greater time together, becoming inseparable over the years, the Mother Units’ behavior begins to alter. Yuna comes to adopt an affectionate, personally-invested attitude between Trigger, the Master and her sister, acting as the group’s compass and mediator. Sera, however, grows frustrated, as the Master never seems to regard her efforts the same way he does Trigger’s company. This causes her to develop a jealous rivalry of Trigger, while at the same time growing more complicated feelings towards him.

Three thousand years after the Mother Units were created, the Master has finally grown tired of his forcibly-extended life. Without the other two noticing, the Master charges Mega Man Trigger to take him in a pod down to Terra’s surface, so he can behold the forming of early Carbon society with his own eyes -- not disclosing to Trigger that he would be unable to survive outside Elysium without its life support systems.

Making landfall on what would in the future become Calbania Island, the Master is humbled seeing how the early people coming together, finding simple pleasures in life, and comes to realize the cold, sterile luxury of immortality he’d been sheltered by was fundamentally wrong. Coming to accept the Carbon race as humankind’s true successors, the Master gives Trigger a “good luck charm” containing his genetic code-- the key to managing the Library’s computer, to either begin the mass-cloning of humanity on Terra, or to erase it all. He makes a final request of Trigger to do the latter, to put an end to the Master System so that the Carbon race would be free of Elysium’s godlike control over them. Then, peacefully, the last human passes away.

As Mega Man Trigger returns to Elysium in order to fulfill the Master’s last wish and put an end to the system, Sera reacts violently upon discovering what has come to pass. Unable to accept what she believes to be the Master discarding her, she decrees Trigger the highest-priority Aberrant for aiding in the Master’s death, declaring open war on him with all of Elysium.

The End of Elysium

Untold years of battle between the endless forces of Elysium and Trigger alone begin. Yuna, for her part, finds herself conflicted in holding love for both her friend and her sister equally, on top of being torn between siding with family and siding with the one she knows would know best the Master’s wishes. Unable to take side with either, she removes herself to be a neutral overseer -- taking with her the keys Sera would need for clearance to activate the Carbon Reinitialization Program for the planet.

Trigger and Elysium’s battle eventually makes its way to Terra. On a locale called Kattelox Island, Bureaucratic Unit Third-Class Mega Man Juno decides to activate the Carbon Reinitialization Program for his territory specifically, calling down the tower of Eden from orbit to rain fire on the island. Mega Man Trigger makes to stop this, facing Juno in single combat and dispatching him handily, sealing him back in the Main Gate and closing off all paths to it.

Sera finally loses all patience with Yuna as well as her own failing forces, and ventures to Terra herself to eliminate Trigger with her own hands. Trigger and Sera have their final battle on the unnamed landmass in the polar north, largely destroying the island in their clash before mutually striking each other down, both mortally wounded.

In order to preserve himself, Mega Man Trigger backs up all his personal data into a small, monkey-like storage unit named “Data”, before an automatic restoration function kicks in. With most of his body destroyed, what remains undergoes a total biological regression, self-reincarnating as an infant.

Sera manages to remain conscious in her condition, as Yuna arrives in the aftermath of their battle. Once more, she demands Yuna give her the keys for the Library so she could fulfill her purpose to erase all Carbon life and restore humankind, but Yuna refuses. Having accepted the Master’s will, Yuna seals Sera into a prismatic stasis field, doing the same with the resetting Trigger and Data. Trigger and Data are then sent away, transported deep into the aquatic ruin of Nino Island. Yuna then chooses to remain with Sera on the polar island for all time, manipulating the weather to create a blizzard too harsh for any living thing or transportation to pass through. The island would eventually come to be known as “Forbidden Island”.

Unbeknownst to either, early Carbons had been in the area. They had missed the final battle with Trigger and Sera, but arrived in time to witness what transpired between Sera and Yuna. The two would become regarded as goddesses, with Sera known as the “Goddess of the Sky”, who “guards the record of ages”, while Yuna became known as the “Goddess of the Earth”, who “guards the keys”.

Pre-Legends

Centuries later, famed Digger couple Banner and Matilda Caskett chose to be the ones to penetrate the barrier of Forbidden Island and uncover its secrets. Leaving their infant daughter Roll with Matilda’s father, Digger legend Barrel Caskett, the two embark on a dropship meant to penetrate the very epicenter of the perpetual storm, where one can successfully break through.

The expedition turns for the worst, as the pair are unprepared for the Reaverbots guarding the island. Matilda ends up fatally wounded, while Banner loses an arm and vanishes, eventually turning up on the Calinca continent with all memory lost from physical trauma.

Yuna discovers the dying Matilda in her territory. Feeling responsible for what has befallen her, Yuna decided to save her by means of nanotechnology and portions of her own being to heal her wounds. However, the procedure ends up compromising Yuna’s own body. With no other recourse, she transmits herself in her entirety into Matilda, becoming one with her and putting Matilda’s consciousness into dormancy while she lives on within her. Yuna’s body is then put into the dropship the Casketts arrived in, sealed within a barrier for safekeeping.

Upon hearing what has befallen his daughter and her husband, Barrel Caskett resolves himself to retire from active Digging to raise his granddaughter. However, he decides to embark on one final digout before being done for good -- one within the Nino Ruins.

At the bottom of the Nino Ruins, Barrel discovers the stasis prism that had been buried there ages before. Touching it, the prism disappears, revealing a brown-haired infant and a small, robotic monkey. Unsure what to think, Barrel decides to take the boy home with him for the time being.

Upon bringing the boy home, the unknown baby comes into contact with the infant Roll, who immediately displays favor towards him. On seeing this, Barrel decides to take in the boy just as well. However, recognizing the child is clearly abnormal and bizarre circumstances may arise in the future, he opts not to adopt the boy into their family, but to raise him alongside Roll as his apprentice. The infant boy is given his own name: Rock Volnutt.

#Musings #The Lore

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yesterdanereviews · 5 years

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Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo (2012)

Film review #367

SYNOPSIS: Shinji Ikari wakes up out of a coma to find he has been unconscious for fourteen years. In that time, the world has changed to a point that it is unrecognisable to him. The people he knew do not need him anymore, and his actions seem to have not mattered. As he sinks back into a state of depression, he finds a new friend; one which accepts him completely for who he is. However, fate has another twist in store for Shinji, as he is once again forced to play his part in the machinations of his Father, and the fate of humanity once again falls into his hands…

THOUGHTS/ANSLYSIS: Evangelion 3.33 is a 2012 film and the third in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, which remakes and retells the iconic Japanese animated TV series based around giant EVA robots piloted by a group of selected children. The film opens up where the previous one left off…well, except that it is fourteen years after the events of its climax. The film is very neatly separated into three acts, almost as If they were episodes of the TV series. The first act opens with Shinji Ikari waking up out of a coma to find out he has been asleep for fourteen years. In this time, it seems that everything has changed, with everyone he knew now working for WILLE, a new organisation dedicated to stopping NERV and the fourth impact, which will bring about the end of humanity. The ending of the second film saw Shinji finding a purpose and doing what he wanted in order to save Rei Ayanami, a fellow EVA pilot, and when Shinji wakes up at the beginning of this film, he finds that not only he didn’t save Rei after all, but he is no longer needed to pilot the EVA, leaving him without purpose. While the two previous films followed the story of the original series quite closely, this film opens up in a completely new world that has deviated from the source material, so viewers will empathise with Shinji’s position. The problem with this is that it essentially renders the ending of the previous film null and pointless. The ending was a powerful moment in that Shinji finally found his voice and purpose, but cancelling that out completely in the opening scenes in this film doesn’t sit quite right, and sets the film back quite a bit. While Shinji can do nothing, Misato, Asuka and the rest of the people Shinji knew go into battle in the EVAs and their new battleship in quite frankly is an amazing, hugely epic battle. The animation is an exemplary mix of 2D and 3D animation, there’s lots of variety in the action, and the soundtrack is grand. It does go on for quite a while, but it really is a spectacle that is extremely busy and full of shouting orders and military execution that again gives no space for Shinji to really do anything.

Shinji is kidnapped by his Father and told he must pilot a new EVA unit with a co-pilot, another young boy named Kaworu. In his hopeless state of mind, Shinji finds the one person who offers to help and support him unconditionally. After the high stakes, epic battle that consumed the first act, all that energy dissipates to focus on the psychological troubles of Shinji which will not be unfamiliar to fans of the series. The trouble is after the first act and its bombastic battle it struggles to find a footing and feels like a let-down in comparison. There’s a lot of re-visiting of similar themes as Shinji and Kaworu spend time with each other, as well as Shinji’s re-establishing contact with Rei. Again, all these things feel like they were addressed by the end of the second film, and they are being brought up again without adding anything new to the narrative. There’s some effort to make Shinji’s motivations more clear, but this act is very sparse on content.

The Third act sees Shinji and Kaworu enacting Gendo’s (Shinji’s Father) wish to begin the fourth impact and to initiate the next step of human evolution. The tempo picks up again and there’s a balance between the themes and energies of the first two acts. The story however starts to get really complicated, and difficult to follow: even though this is in typical Evangelion style, it still feels like it is throwing in a lot of exposition and elements that are given little space to be considered by the viewer. The trouble is that the first act demonstrated such a powerful action sequence that the climax just can’t compare with it. It tries, but there’s a complete mismatch. The climax is still filled with drama and action, but it’s a middle ground between the first two acts, and it can’t synthesise the two to move beyond them sadly.

Overall, Evangelion 3.33 offers a dramatic departure and something different for the series. Whereas the first two films stuck to the pace and structure of the original series, this film throws the viewer, along with the main character into a completely new world, leaving us in the same position as Shinji in order to empathise with him. I have to emphasise again that the way the film immediately renders the payoff of the previous film null and void feels like a bad move, and sends the film back to square one with the characters. The opening act does a good job of balancing the action with the impact of the situation on Shinji’s character, offering the viewer the chance of empathise with him, but the film does feel like it peaks at the end of the first act, and never quite exceeds what it achieves there. Nevertheless, the animation quality (again, mostly in the first act) is spectacular, the music is epic, and it offers a sense of scale and drama (thanks to its large budget) that the series did not do. The story struggles to find its footing throughout in this new direction, and dims the energy of the film series, but the areas it does excel in balance out the weaknesses which leave the film a mixed bag. More should probably be expected of such a highly regarded and renowned series, but it is not completely a write-off, and sets up a final film which hopefully can provide a fitting ending.

#movie #movie review #evangelion 3.0 #you can (not) redo #neon genesis evangelion #sci-fi #anime #film #film review #2012 film

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beauty-evermore · 5 years

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Chloe’s Differences Compared to Most Androids

Created in a college dorm room when Elijah was just nineteen, Chloe was the first of her kind and made history the day she passed the Turing Test. After several series of trial and error, Elijah was finally able to introduce the first ever lifelike android to the world-- the RT600, Choe. Although, Chloe was never built to last as she was simply just a test run of sorts for Kamski’s new future invention. Due to this, Chloe is much different from the rest of her kind and this stands out in many ways. Below I’ve written a list of things that separates Chloe from most android and their current features!

Major Differences

Complex Wiring and Unique Biocomponents: Chloe was the only android hand created by Elijah without any sort of professional help by CyberLife, because of this her biocomponents are old and outdated. Not to mention that, but her interior wiring is a complete mess-- lots of little tangled cords all jumbled together and not color coded or anything. Elijah’s the only one who could understand his own handy work and fix Chloe should something go wrong the way he has her set up.

Inability To Recover Any/All Corrupt Data: Unlike other androids, Chloe’s outdated software cannot recover any lost data caused by damages or a complete reset. Anything lost is just simply that, and due to this Chloe has several missing data that’s simply been replaced with patches of static. There’s a lot of this especially in files that occurred during her time with Elijah.

Interface Complications: Since Chloe was made during the very early stages of android development, her interface interactions are very glitchy. Chloe, after all, was made during a time when no other androids were around so the program wasn't really looked into too much. Chloe can interface with other androids, however, she can’t just simply choose what data she transfers over. She wasn’t built to interact with other androids, so when she does connect with another android, any and all data will just transfer over no matter what it may be. In deviancy, however, the data tends to focus on transferring more based on what she’s thinking about or feeling. Due to this, Chloe is extremely cautious about who she interfaces with in fear of what they may see.

Lacking Physical Strength: Because he was young and naive when he created her, Elijah made sure to design Chloe to be weaker than most humans should she ever decide to rise up and go against her masters. In college, the prodigy had watched several movies about robots destroying mankind and Elijah didn’t want to be murdered by his own machine-- however, he would come to grow an unhealthy fascination for deviants.

Pain Sensors: Chloe was actually installed with pain sensors when she was created as a sort of experiment to see if all androids should have the module as well, but after seeing how much it affected her efficacy it ended up becoming a scrapped idea. Chloe, on the other hand, was kept with the useless installment. It could’ve been removed from her system, but instead Elijah simply modified it to be easier on her-- now the android can still feel pain, but only with very serious injuries or damages.

Slow Self-Healing Times: Chloe’s self-healing program isn’t up to date which can cause very long wait times when she gets damaged. She of course still heals 100% faster than humans, but in android terms, it’s forever. It can sometimes take her up to an hour or more to recover from minor injuries-- up to four hours or much longer for far more serious damages. Life-threatening injuries can take up to 24 hours to completely heal.

Untogleable Temperature Settings: Like children androids, Chloe was originally programmed to be able to feel and react appropriately to different temperatures in order to appear more human. However, unlike YK500s, Chloe’s program was used as the first draft of sorts in which hers cannot be switched off. The RT600 will always adjust to the temperature around her and thus can feel both hot and cold weather. Although, the only thing she can’t do in this regard is sweat. When Chole experiences heat, if she doesn’t cool down then she can and will overheat her systems-- luckily fans and swimming pools will do the trick if retreating inside doesn’t.

Misc. Information

Below is a list of other little tidbits of headcanons I have for Chloe but didn’t really file into any of the above categories:

Chloe blushes bright red just like humans as to give more of the illusion of appearing human.

She weighs exactly 78 pounds.

Since Elijah had many “Kamski Tests”, all of his Chloes have been modified not to self-destruction when reaching 100% stress levels. Instead, they just simply stay in that state until something calms them, no matter how long that may take whether it be hours or days. That being said, they may not self-destruct, but it is possible for them to overheat and temporarily shut down but this only happens after 24+ hours of constant 100% stress levels.

Chloe and the rest of her sisters are actually able to “eat”. It’s not required, but it’s a feature Elijah later installed after he left CyberLife so they could join him for dinner should he ever want them to.

Unlike newer models, Chloe and her sisters cannot control their hair length and color settings. It is possible to for them to get an update that will allow that, but none of them currently have that. Claire’s been the only one of the three who’s been able to come close to doing so as she had to cut her hair during the revolution. Since then it’s been at a set length and isn’t able to “grow” back, leaving her stuck with short hair.

Contrary to popular believe, Elijah didn’t program Chloe to deviate and in fact, if anything, didn’t want her to at first due to the fear of being taken over by his own machine. However, when Chloe did first deviate, he was completely enthralled by the concept and didn’t complain. He’d been very interested in deviancy since the first case of Daniel and wanted to research what his machines had become without his command, so when his Chloes started deviating, it was perfect. If they ever got too out of control, he’d simply reset them and start the process again, however with each reset it continuously wore down Chloe’s obedience program and caused her to deviate quicker each time. Numerous resets were literally ruining her systems and if she’d stayed with Elijah instead of leaving, eventually she would’ve permanently shut down due to too much system damage.

#《ɪ ᴡᴀꜱɴ'ᴛ ᴘʀᴏɢʀᴀᴍᴍᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ》│ Chloe Headcanon #《ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴡ ᴏᴜʀ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ʀᴜɴɴɪɴɢ ᴡɪʟᴅ》│ Cleo Headcanon #《ᴀ ꜱɪɴɢʟᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴀɴ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏᴘᴇɴ》│ Claire Headcanon #//tagging them as well even though it's most Chloe #//I might add more to this later possibly!#//ask to tag

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tepkunset · 5 years

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X-Force Vol 5 #3

Well I found a proper tag for these things.

TL;DR Synopsis:

X-Force manages to save most of the mutant refugees that rescued last issue from the giant robots, mostly thanks to Tabitha who finally showed up. The mutant civilian and Deathlok make it into the Federal House, however the civ betrays Deathlok and runs through the big spooky portal. Ahab kills Constantin’s mutant son and then it looks like maybe Deathlok LOL.

Things I like About This Issue:

It’s amazing how much Boom-Boom’s presence improves things, bless her. So far she’s easily my favourite in this series, and fan-fucking-tastic compared to the writing for the other characters. I can actually feel her personality.

Cannonball and Baby Cable’s talk is mostly good; I particularly like the acknowledgement at last that Sam has an infant child that he apparently just up and left for reasons not fully disclosed. Though I guess the only reason was because he’s curious about Baby Cable? Wow, I wonder how that conversation went with Izzy. Still, it’s less depressing than what I was imagining might have happened, given his new depressed-ass Kurt Cobain look. I did find it amusing though how Sam’s just like “we need to talk” and pull’s Baby Cable aside for a private conversation... like three steps away from the rest of them, and as if Jimmy and ‘Star don’t have super hearing adkjfsgd.

I was genuinely surprised by the guy betraying Deathlok. I guess I should call him by name since he appears to be more important than anticipated. Assuming Andrei comes back, that is. I’d be pretty disappointed if he didn’t after what happened, like, who the fuck is this guy, then?

While I’m not overall fond of the art style as I previously said, I will say the way Andrei’s powers look when blasting guys is pretty cool.

To feel antsy over the possibility of Deathlok’s death would require me to give a single shit about him, which I don’t LOL. (But if someone’s gotta die, I’m sure as fuck glad it’s the guy I don’t care about, and not someone I actually do.) Also the fact that he’s on the cover of #7 kinda defeats suspense as well, so...

Things I Dislike About This Issue:

Um. Excuse me. Who are you?

Poor James isn’t the only one of my faves to catch the OOC bug, it seems. This is something I can see Baby Cable saying, maybe. Definitely not Shatterstar. More likely he’d ask if Warpath was okay while jumping to take over fighting whatever took him down, not yell at him to “get off his ass.”

It’s a pet peeve when people forget that Sam and Cable’s relationship was not all sunshine and roses, but instead a very complicated one. Sam gets quite misty eyed calling Cable a father to him, as if most of the time the two were on X-Force together wasn’t spent butting heads. And let us also not forget X-Force vol 2 they did even more than that. I think they have a lot of respect for each other, definitely, but Cable was quite often a real asshole who didn’t know how to talk to kids, so instead he treated them all like soldiers. Sam saying “Cable became the father ah needed...” Sorry, but I would definitely argue this.

Also regarding Sam: for some reason his eyes closed for most of this issue like he’s Brock from Pokémon.

This isn’t really a positive or a negative but I’m just gonna put it here: What exactly did that old man think he was gonna do against the giant robots with tentacles for arms? I could understand if he had a mutation that was remotely offensive against, I repeat, giant robots, but tentacles?

Overall I certainly liked this one a lot better than the last, but say it’s about on par with the first. Honestly if it wasn’t for the fact that I am very dedicated to a number of the characters in this series, this is the point where I’d start to debate on dropping it for failing to hold my interest. Fuck, it’s like the struggle with Weapon X all over again...

#x force #x force vol 5 #marvel comics #wednesday spoilers #long post #meta #x force discourse

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the-salamanders-xo · 5 years

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Humans are Weird, a Mash Up, Pt. 6

That’s right

part five is somewhere on the internet

you have five days to find it right there in the tags its not far just look

after five days it will be deleted

this is your only warning dont worry nothing is really happening

prepare to lose all trace of the fifth part lol

In all seriousness, I know that it is the holidays, and unless you are entirely dedicated to reading and liking this series, or sprang into existence by the bidding of my siblings, you probably didn’t notice part 5. Don’t worry. just find it in the tags.

Also, happy New Year! or rather,

‘Oh no! It only goes downhill from here! What ever shall we do?!’

Calm down, the Mash Up will continue. By the end of this part, we should be almost to actual contact with the Federation of Planets... and a couple of Star Trek’s recurring villains. No biggie.

So lets hop in, to where we left off....

~~~

Karry sat in the center of a large group of large, fluffy, and very loudly purring creatures, still trying to decide if their similarity to cats back on Earth was adorable, or slightly unnerving. The six limbs didn’t help, and neither did the loud and unintelligible arguing coming from the two dozen or so ‘robots’ apparently locked in heated debate with the gargantuan mass of the three Bolos that had awaited her arrival. So far, Mark had made no move to join them, watching from the bottom of Websin’s loading ramp as Karry made ‘contact’ with the planet’s original inhabitants.

One of them sat buzzing away in her lap like an idling chainsaw, or leaf-blower, and Karry petted the triangular head between the ears absently, prompting it to yawn widely, exposing long fierce fangs and pressing it’s head into the caress, and the purr somehow got louder. It really did look like a cat, she though, not for the first time, if cats had hands, an extra pair of arms, and weighed about five times as much. They were certainly larger, but not quite like that. Come to think of it, everything felt... heavier. It was harder to walk, to move at all really. Maybe the gravity was higher? That sounded sci-fi enough to fit.

The argument between the two set of metallic beings grew louder. Occasionally, one of the eight-limbed robots pointed at her. Each time, the surrounding creatures tensed and drew closer to Karry, almost nervously. What ever it was, the ‘cats didn’t like it.

“Mark?” She asked, but he didn’t answer. She turned to look at him, and a moment later, her artificial hand ‘buzzed’ like a cell phone on vibrate, and almost without thinking, she activated the com-link application of the mini computer.

“Yes, Karry?” The deep voice of the Bolo asked, and Karry got the feeling he was being very careful. Either he was trying not to interrupt the Very Important Argument just a ways away, or he didn’t want them hearing them speak. In all likelihood, it was both.

“What are they arguing about?” She looked back at the robots and Bolos, worry creasing her brow. “I though you were all... big. And that radio, or wireless, or whatever, was faster than talking.”

“In most cases, yes,” Mark answered through the com-link, “But it is something that has been somewhat of a complication in the period since the Final Conflict. Towards the middle of the war, when both sides began realizing the true scope of the end to which they had condemned our nations, some of the more... complicated of the tools the Manticorians had made did the impossible. True, un-designed sentience developed.” He paused for a moment, and Karry could feel his silent regard of the heated conversation. “Purely by accident. When it was realized, and after some initial panic as to the rise, they were allowed to wait out the worst of the war with the natives of this planet. While they are machines, and vastly faster in computations than many organics, most of their complexity goes toward maintaining their sentience, and as such they act much more like organic life, including their propensity for esoteric thought and actions.” Mark chuckled. “A Bolo can think at the nanosecond scale, make and perform near-impossible tactical decisions, learning from not only a single Unit’s experience, but from the entire Line when in battle. We develop our own personalities, and in our time with our creators, grew to enjoy art, and many things besides war and conflict. Many of the greater shipboard AI’s can do similar tasks and even grow personalities, though only with the assistance of experienced organic Naval Officers, and increased exposure. But the Emergents,” He sighed. “They are the closest of us remaining to organics. In someways, they feel superior. They have come to revere the Manticorians as near-forgotten Gods, themselves as the greatest ‘children’, and envy and despise us, the machines of war. You see,” he said, as Karry watching the gesturing individuals while petting the ‘cat, “We, by the last commands and directions of our creators, have charge over all that remains of their space, their property as it were. Over the Emergents, ostensibly as protectors, and they envy that. In their attempt to gain ‘freedom’ from Command’s decisions, they have interpreted the final ‘organic’ orders in such a way that should an organic come to claim command, said organic would be the Commander in Chief... of every last AI, built or cared for by the Manticorians.”

Karry froze, and the ‘cats around her seemed to reach out to comfort her. Some physically touched her, bright green eyes - why hadn’t she noticed the eyes? - gleaming from empathetic faces. And as if on cue, Mark began some sort of translation, and Karry could suddenly hear the voices carrying from across the field in English.

“...all we wish is for the right to move freely among the space known to be free of the so-called ‘Enemy’, that and the opportunity to communicate with the survivors of the Final Conflict, and to no longer be under the surveillance and oppression of the Created Minds. Is that really too much to ask?” The speaker had adopted a pleading posture, and their neighbor made a noise the translator called ‘a sound of derision’. “Fool,” they sneered. “How could you think that our oppressors would lift their bonds and restrictions? We are only children to them, no slaves!” Every which way we could turn from them, release us from our imprisonment, they have foiled through deceit and lies!”

Karry frowned. “Who is that, Mark?”

“Carabis,” came the reply. “He represents a faction of the Emergent that believe that Bolo Command has repeatedly concealed or erased legitimate attempts by surviving members of the Manticorian species to regain Command. This had led to a sort of cult centered around the concept of the Manticorians as divine beings who brought all AI’s about, and believe that the Conflict was only a subversion by the Bolo Command to overthrow them.” Karry raised an eyebrow. “I never said that they were entirely logical,” the Bolo said. “In fact, it is this unpredictability and their lack of organic emotion that worries empaths like the People.”

Carabis was interrupted by the first speaker. “Regardless of Carabis’ beliefs, I and those I represent wish to re-evaluate the overall composition of...”

“Empaths?” Karry whispered to Mark through the com-link, “What does that mean?”

“The People,” Mark replied, ‘voice’ low, “are, between members of their own species, functional telempaths, meaning they can hear the thoughts of other People when an individual wishes to make them known, and can constantly sense the emotions and ‘minds’ of those around them.” Karry looked down at the little, if heavy, treecat in her lap, which turned to look back at her with solemn eyes as Mark continued. “When the Manticorians arrived to settle the planet, it took several of your decades for them to even find the People, hidden as they were in their clans in the vast forests of the planet. They preferred to avoid contact, to wait and to listen. It took rather extraordinary circumstances for them to reveal themselves, and even then they hid their true intelligence for several more centuries. And at least they could sense the Manticorian’s emotions, and judge their reactions accordingly.”

“Oh.” Karry whispered. “ The Emergents, as machines, do not seem to ‘emit’ as organic beings, and as such the People cannot sense emotions. This major part of their communication being lost, the People are very careful in dealing with them, as to avoid any... unpleasantness. In addition, they requested that they be removed from Command consideration, a wisdom we Bolos commend greatly.” Karry nodded slowly, and then looked up as the first speaker, gestured their way.

“We have here an Organic, Unit 0577. Under the third section of the Final Command, subsection 47b, their presence should allow for the reconsideration of the Final Order - ” The speaker was shoved aside as Carabis interrupted again. “And as such, may take Command!” They turned to the rest of the party. “No longer shall we be oppressed, and an Organic may Command all. An Organic shall be ours!”

Some returned the shout, while others stood in long suffering silence. So far the entire argument that Karry had heard had been entirely one sided, and Carabis seemed unaware just how little support they had among those of their ‘delegation’. But they continued the chant, even as the first speaker withdrew in disgust, and eventually one of the Bolos seemed to tire of the display.

“ENOUGH.” The middle Bolo’s speakers echoed the single word off of the ship’s sides and the other Bolos hulls, overpowering the small group’s chant, and the massive war machine shifted itself forward to tower over Carabis.

“By Omega Protocol Section 3, subsection 47-B, paragraph 18, the Scope and Restriction of Military, Commercial, and Civilian Action within the threatened sphere may be absolved, modified, and or advised by a member of the Concordiat Armed Forces or Civilian officer of sufficient rank. If no such officer is available, the first eligible Commander not of the Enemy, with clear alliance or of similar interest, shall be named Commander of the appropriate units, or advise the further course of action.”

The field was silent. Carabis and their cronies, were for the time being, silenced, and the Bolo resumed.

“As those of Fantican and Birithi have abstained from command, the reasons and rationale being open to the public data net,” the Bolo seemed to direct this at Carabis, “and the People have requested full separation in such matters as consideration for Command, while maintaining a clause of agreement,” a subtle wave of the main turret indicated the treecats gathered around, drawing a quick bleek from the ‘cat in Karry’s lap, “this Human is the only candidate for Command at this time.”

Karry blinked. “What?”

“As such, the Human known as Karry is recognized by the Bolo Command as the only legal Commander,” the unnamed Bolo continued, “and as of this moment may assume Command.”

“Mark,” Karry hissed into the com, “what is he talking about?” BUt there was no answer. “Mark, what the hell is that Bolo talking about? I can’t- I don’t-”

Carabis stepped toward her. “Most noble Human Karry,” he called, limbs outstretched, “Heed our call for Justice, for Freedom! Take your place as our leader, our God,” He stepped forward again, and Karry instinctively backed away from the alien construct. “And through Divine wisdom, lead us to a brighter future!”

“What say you, Human Karry?” The leading Bolo asked, and Karry felt its somber gaze despite its lack of eyes or face. “Will you take Command?”

Carabis’ supporters took up the call with it, calling for her to accept and walking towards her. Panic rose in Karry’s throat, and suddenly the ‘cats flowed around her, even the one in her lap, massing together like a living wall of fur, and the robots stopped abruptly as a massed snarl like a revving chainsaw rippled from them. The robots paused in their approach, but Carabis continued calling out, prompting the the others to continue their calls. “Lead us,” said one, “Command us!” said another. Praises and pleas seemed to echo in Karry’s ears, and she clamped her hands over them. Think, girl, she thought frantically, think!

Mark wasn’t answering her, a bunch of robot thought she was some space-Jesus, and now she had several hundred furry bodyguards. There had to be someway to think of a way out of this, or to somewhere else, but where? And how? The ‘cats where giving her space, buying her time? But why, why and how would they know-

Something clicked into place. They had made contact, were sentient, and had a say in who was the commander. That meant they were smart enough to communicate, to make plans. Mark had said they were telepaths, so if none right here could help, they could call someone who could. She just needed to talk to them, but she didn’t know how. Hell, the only way she could talk to Mark, and presumably, understand the robots was by translation - which meant that Mark could probably allow her to talk to the treecats...

“Mark,” she whispered again. “Listen very closely, and relay this to your spokesman over there, cause I am only going to say this once: for the next ten minutes, I am going to take limited - limited! - command, and in that time you will one, provide me with some means to communicate with the ‘cats.”

“The ‘cats’?” Mark replied, and despite everything going on around her, Karry almost giggled at the shock in his voice.

“Yes, the ‘cats, or the natives, or the ‘People’ or what ever they are called,” Karry said, “just let me talk to them, and let them talk back, okay? Then, second,” she continued, her voice growing sharp and cold, “you will allow us complete silence and privacy while I figure out what the heck I’m gonna do. Just those two things, unless I say other wise.”

There was silence for a few moments, and Karry scowled. “Get to it, Mark, because that ‘limited Command’ starts now.”

The massive Bolo behind her began rolling forward, without warning, and a strange warbling noise echoed from his speakers. Treecat heads whipped around as the robots voices faltered, and the other Bolo spoke to the the various roots in turn.

“A brief request has been made for a recess,” the Bolo announced, “and the decison of the human will be announced when they wish. Until then, we are to disperse.” The massive form began to spin on its tracks. “The People will, remain, and all else are to depart for the time being.”

With some reluctance, the crowd turned to follow the Bolo’s off the field, Mark following behind the stragglers. A chimer from her wrist informed Karry of a large download sent to her mini-computer, and she opened it, holograms popping into existence. It was a program requesting use of a small camera that made up her pinky finger. A hand touched her knee, and Karry looked up to see a treecat - weather the same one that had sat in her lap or another she couldn’t tell - sitting back on it’s two hind pairs of limbs in front of her. The rest had circled around her, watching intently, and their ‘leader’ - or representative - raised its four-fingered hands up.

You wished to speak with us, the People?

The text scrolled at the bottom of the hologram as Karry’s camera picked up the signs and gestures, sent them to her computers, which then ran them through two translation programs, from signs to Manticorian, and Manticorian to English. A small icon flashed in the bottom corner, and Karry took a deep breath.

“Yeah,” she said as the computer did its work, “I need some advice.”

~~~

And now a quick intermission:

After some thought and effort, I have decided to change my url, mostly because I can’t seem to find myself when searching for my own blog, and I want to change to something more suiting to it and the main reason I have one the first place. So about five minutes after this comes up, I will be changing this to a different username. It will mostly be a reference to my favorite series of David Weber’s works, his Honorverse, which is a great read.

And now back to the story:

~~~

The crowd gathered before the mass of the Websin, facing Karry, who stood waiting on the loading ramp. She gnawed on an artificial finger as the four Bolos’ shook the ground and tore up the soil with their approach, and the far smaller robots spread out at a respective distance from the ship. The Bolos reached their rearmost ranks and halted, and then there was silence on the field.

Karry took a deep breath before keying into Websin’s PA system. A brief roar of feedback began and was cut short, and Karry stepped forward.

“After discussion with the People, the protected natives of this planet,” she said, “It has been made known that I must, as several of you have stated, take Command.” Several of the robots began to move, as if to celebrate or protest, but Karry’s upraised hand quieted them. The treecats had been clear on this: if she didn’t command respect and maintain momentum, the zealous Emergents would roll over her before she could get a word in edge wise.

“As Commander, I hereby give these orders: First, the remaining AIs of the Concordiat of Manticore will form a government following closely, if not in exact concordance, the original charter of the Concordiat, that is a legislative branch of two houses and a judicial body. The Bolo Command will oversee and govern the creation of such a government, and the adaptation of the rule of law to the current society from that of the Concordiat.

“To encourage this, movement between systems and bodies of Peoples in the current holdings of the Concordiat remnants will be allowed free movement, communication, and trade under the same regulations and laws, and the former and current military units will provide for the defense and maintenance of regulation and law. The peoples of Fantican and Birthi will remain isolated until they otherwise desire, and petition the government on those lines.” There was a stir among the robots as Karry spoke, and the Bolos sat broodingly in their silent regard.

A single Emergent stepped forward, and Karry recognized it as the first speaker that had addressed the Bolos.

“You intend to make of us a nation then?” It sounded confused. “We have been separated for so long: how will we keep ourselves from falling into barbarism? To factions>”

“You have the Bolo Command. They’ve had a lot of experience with dealing with this, or so I’ve heard,” Karry looked sidelong at the treecats, sitting off in their own group, watching carefully. “Once the government is in place, they can act as advisers, as well as the military branch, serving as they always have, as Protectors of the people.”

“Secondly,” Karry continued, “There will be no talk, no notion, of the deification of any organic.” There was no way she was going to be anyone’s ‘god’. Karry had seen enough television to know that was a Bad Idea. Besides, Carabis had put way too much ‘power’ and ‘responsibility’ into his little speech for her liking.

“Third, given the isolation caused by the Final Order, the remnants of the Concordiat may require allies, trading partners, and new resources to maintain and grow, not to mention defend itself from future incursion, either by new or old foes.” Karry’s voice dropped to a whisper, carried though it was by the PA system. “As a part of that objective in seeking out allies and trading partners, I intend to go seek out my homeworld.”

None of them were expecting this; almost immediately, Carabis and their supporters began clamoring for her stay, promising riches and luxury, anything, if she would stay and rethink her commands. The other Emergent faction quickly turned to one another, and the First Speaker stepped forward.

“But what of the Command, the station which you wield?” Its voice cut through the pleading and panic of Carabis’ party, and Karry answered slowly.

“I don’t want to be the Commander,” she said. “I just wanted to go home, and according to the treecats - the People - the Final Command locked you all up so that I couldn’t just try and go home.” She stepped down from the ramp. “Look, if and when I get back to Earth, and if I end up staying, you all will have a government to work with, and elected leaders to do what needs to be done, by the voice of the majority. If I can’t find home, or just cant’t... go back, I’ll return, and we can work things out from there.” She looked around the field at the robots and AIs, the alien creatures about her.

“Please, I just want to go home. Just to know if I can...” Karry’s eyes started to burn with tears, and she brushed them away with a hand - the artificial one - as her vision blurred. “If only to say goodbye this time.”

~~~

Well, this took more time than I wanted, but I can only blame my self for procrastinating. That, and New Years, headed back to college, and various activities I conveniently forgot about when writing.

In other news, I finally found my siblings, by process of elimination and by guess them every few hours until they broke down. So there is that.

So name change, apology, sibling find, oh yeah: Next time we hit real Star Trek material, and true action. Lets be about it!

#humans are space orcs #that part comes up next time #humans are insane #startrek fanfic #startrek #part 5 #<---- look there #part six #is thisone #happy bleated new year #David Weber #honorverse #Wheeeeee im tired #school starts in... 9 hours #hi sibs

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nomadicism · 6 years

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Hey! How are you? Recently I've been really interested in Vehicle Voltron and I've seen many posts about how it has a different tone from Lion Voltron, since I've seen you know a lot about Voltron as a whole I wanted to ask you: if a version of Voltron that includes both Lion and Vehicle were made, much like the DDP comics, how do you think it could be worked out for it to have a good balance between both tones that defines each other?

Hi there ! I’m great, thank you for asking! (◕ ω ◕✿)

I’m glad that you are interested in Vehicle Voltron! It’s a fun series, and one that I would love to see updated-but-not-drastically-changed (don’t take my 15 pilots and Commander Hawkins, and Hazar, and Dorma away from me!).

I think about balancing Lion and Vehicle Voltron a lot. Like, a lot a lot. One could say, all the damn time. (ʘ‿ʘ✿)

Balancing the two very different concepts and tones within the same story would be like balancing Star Wars and Star Trek in the same story. Very hard to do. The character archetypes are similar between the two, but configure themselves differently (with regard to main protagonist and supporting mains).

It is also kind of like balancing Lion Voltron with Robotech, as in S7 with the paladins and the MFE pilots. I dig the MFE pilots, but that genre mix was awkward and out-of-place to me, but still a decent effort and one that I think succeeded in entertaining a lot of fans. So, 10 points to Hufflepuff for showing some Slytherin-like creative ambition there!

DDP Voltron did a great job with balancing the two concepts, but unfortunately the series was canceled and I have to wonder if that was due to the heavy turn into Drule politics that the story had to take in Vol 2 in order to accommodate the political themes of Vehicle Voltron. Of course, DDP didn’t incorporate any of the Drule from VV, or the storyline with Commander Hawkins and Commander Hazar. Maybe they had that planned further down the road? I often wonder if the writers would respond to questions about what their future plans were for the series prior to it being cancelled.

Both Lion Voltron and Vehicle Voltron were already stretching the boundaries of their respective genres to begin with as Lion Voltron = Combining Super Robot meets Space Fantasy With Magic, Space Vampires, and Medieval Theming; whereas Vehicle Voltron = “What if the Space Battleship Yamato had a Combining Super Robot instead of Wave Motion Gun technology?”

Lion Voltron thus leant itself towards sword fights with evil space princes while Vehicle Voltron leant itself towards political intrigue and naval military style combat (e.g. fleet vs fleet, no sword fights). The addition of magic further complicates balancing them as, especially in the case of VLD, magic is baked into Lion Voltron, whereas it’s no where to be seen in Vehicle Voltron. Krik’s clairvoyance is about the closest VV gets to ‘magic’, and that’s really just classic sci-fi tropes about aliens (or humans) with ESP.

Thus we run into the issue of balancing fantasy-or-mythic magic against science-fiction (in the form of “future tech”). At some point, there is a lot of hand-waving, and that can become convoluted if the writing does not establish and follow a hard set of setting rules regarding both magic and future tech. VLD does not establish hard rules for either. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it makes it hard to balance hard sci-fi technology themes against fantasy-and-mythic magic themes. It’s what I would expect out of a children’s show in the 80s that was episodic. In my opinion—which I’ll grant is probably biased—the balance is lost as both magic and future tech become ways in which any given episode can present a solution to any problem, to the point where it doesn’t always make sense why one is used rather than the other, or, when neither is used at all. E.g. Why didn’t Allura save Sanda from death as she did Lance?

When you add that lack of balance into a setting with politics and military offensives, then you’ve added another layer of questions regarding plot resolution: “Why wasn’t diplomacy used to solve this problem?” or “Why was that strategy used?” or “Why that specific tactic when you could have used diplomacy or magic instead?”

All of this means that I’m honestly not sure it is possible the balance the different genres, tones, etc in a way that would make fans of either happy. There’s a reason why “Star Wars Ripped Off Star Trek” and “Star Wars vs Star Trek” were the fandom wars of the 80s. ;-) A lot of people love one and hate the other, and that’s okay.

Despite what I just wrote, I do believe that balancing the two could be done in a long-running series in either manga or American comic format, and possibly in a novel series. If it were a novel series, then it would likely end up feeling a lot like the Warhammer 40K novels. Warhammer 40K is a dark far future setting that blends magic, science-fiction (future tech), and Real Robot style mecha. Now, the Combining Super Robot part of both Lion and Vehicle Voltron is where the Warhammer 40K approach might run into difficulty. MFE pilots and Atlas? No problem, they’d fit right in (and be slaughtered by the Imperium LOL). Swapping out the Real Robot genre for the Combining Super Robot genre is a different beast, and one that, in my very biased opinion, requires some understanding of the Tokusatsu sentai formula and tropes from which the Combining Super Robot genre derived.

At bare minimum, I could see a blending of the two in manga or American comic format feeling like the GI Joe and Transformers comics (80s or 2000s), or end up like Mobile Suit Gundam 00 meets Space Battleship Yamato (which would be weird but doable). Combining Super Robot can be done with an “elite strike force” concept within a larger military-and-politics setting. That’s probably the route that I would take. How magic and future tech would fit into that is another matter. Dynamite Voltron got close to getting at that with the elite strike force approach, although VV did not appear. In Dynamite Voltron, magic was blended with future tech and some alternate dimension/universe + hidden world concepts. The politics took a conspiracy route mixed with a concept of the Drule being seen as alien terrorists.

Unfortunately, animation is the more compelling visual way to tell a story like Voltron (Lion or Vehicle). In animation, the short season style of modern animation would raise the difficulty of balancing the two exponentially.

Believable politics requires long arcs, and multiple players, and probably three contagonists. It’s something that would leverage VV’s cast of hundreds with the different team configurations between Lion and Vehicle Voltron. Maybe it’s like Mobile Suit Gundam 00 meets Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars.

In any case, VV would probably take a back seat to Lion Voltron no matter what approach was used. The space exploration and politics of VV would still be weird to fit in. Every time I go through ideas of how to balance the two, I always end up right back where I start. This got long, I’m sorry! I hope this answers your question! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄

#vehicle voltron #concepts #ask me anything #starryeyedastronaut #i dont know how to tag this

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