#i really do wanna write that pater pov on rusty tho

[kivaember]

What does Rusty think about Pater, Hawkins and their lurid office romance? I mean, aside from probably hating them for being corpos of course. Pater's impression of Rusty was one of the more humorous bits from the game so I wonder if Rusty was aware of him doing it... Ditto for O'keeffe too, one of Pater's lines says that O'keeffe looked out for him and he gets upset if you kill O'keeffe so they must've at least had a positive working relationship.

CLAPS HANDS TOGETHER im going to ramble about Pater and Vesper dynamics now LETS GO

I hc that Pater likely joined just under a year before they were sent to Rubicon, and most of that year was spent with him being used as a glorified dogsbody. He was a Gen Ten, the most ~advanced~ augmentations, and likely was put on the Vespers as a demonstration of their technological prowess or whatever. Pater was a young, ambitious corporate ladder climber too, so he was very skilled at brown nosing and putting forth the correct persona depending on who he was talking to.

Just one problem: the Vespers are full of freaks.

Freud refused to acknowledge his existence beyond what was mandatory (tho he's like that for anyone who isn't a) his direct chain of command, b) snail or c) a good opponent), Snail privately resented him for his advanced augmentations and was low key trying to figure out what their benefits were so he could steal them for himself somehow, Maeterlinck was very neutral towards him bc she's actually the only sane person in this goddamn group and is just here to collect a paycheck and a good retirement package, and Swinburne saw him as competition that was going to snatch his Vesper number from him or leapfrog over him to the next number just like Rusty did.

So, his reception wasn't exactly the warmest. O'Keeffe wasn't warm towards him either, but O'Keeffe doesn't play promotion politics (he's already set for life and enjoys various perks the other Vespers don't) and he treats Pater as any other subordinate. O'Keeffe's a bit odd, but he's forthright and fair, and Pater appreciated that, esp as O'Keeffe gave him some helpful pointers on how to navigate life in the Vespers.

Rusty was a little more enigmatic, and Pater honestly could never get a good read on him. Superficially, Rusty was very friendly and always willing to chat whenever Pater crossed paths with him, but Pater could tell that Rusty's smiles were very practiced and artificial, and that there was very little true warmth in his eyes.

Actually, Pater genuinely thought Rusty was like him: just a better actor. Pater admired Rusty for his effective masking skills and studied him closely to better his own masking and friendly persona. Like, Pater was good, but he knew that sometimes he could be a little off-putting bc he either didn't strike the right tone of his smile wasn't quite right, but Rusty was very charismatic and charming and such a good liar, so Pater definitely jotted down a lot of mental notes and tried to emulate him.

(Rusty had no idea about this but he definitely would've been peturbed to know that Pater admired him for being such an amazing liar dfhdfhdf actually i want to write a Pater pov drabble about Rusty being a liar now-)

NOW ONTO HAWKINS.

Hawkins is a little like Maeterlinck where he's actually kind of normal, but, there is a but here: his augmentation time wasn't as easy or clearcut as the others'. He came on the heels of the rather fatal and dangerous Gen Five and Gen Six experiments, and it rests heavy on him that his Gen Seven augments were safe only because of how many lives were lost before him. So, he looks at Pater and sees a young lad totally oblivious (lol no) to the highway of bones he walked on to get to where he is, and wants to guide and look out for him.

Which turned out easy enough since Pater was delegated to help Hawkins out a lot with his logistical issues. Pater, thrust into a group where majority of them saw him as either a hindrance or competition, basically huddled under Hawkins' protective shadow bc Pater's a survivor and a ladder climber and he knows to stick to his useful assets and allies like glue.

Hawkins developed feelings for Pater, and yes there was the telenovela drama of oh no, i can't, he's my junior!!! but eventually Hawkins came clean and Pater calculated.

He does hold genuine feelings of affection for Hawkins, but he also ran all the calculations on what this relationship would bring him, how useful it'd be, its pros, its cons, and after weighing all that was like yeah it'll give me more than i'll lose so let's go for it!

Pater, I feel... DUAL NATURE and his emblem make me feel that Pater is well aware of the life he leads, where he has to don a mask to get to where he is and further. i don't think it's meant to represent like, a split personality or anything like that, but more like a representation of what the cutthroat, capitalistic society has forced him to be.

You don't promote being honest and earnest and trusting - you just get stabbed in the back. You have to get close to those who can do things for you, enter into deals of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" to create a web of favours and obligations and "put in a good word for me!" or "oh he's such a nice guy, let's do this for him". You have to be good at donning the right mask, the right persona, at watching someone you have affections for be cut down and in real time make the very conscious and sharp adjustment of "oh my god no" to "ok ok you have to think what this'll give you you have to think about how you can use this" bc Hawkins being dead means he's lost more than just the emotional support, he's lost the material, the physical, he has to focus on "how can i turn this into a win?"

That turned way more rambly than I thought shhsadfd but Pater fascinates me because he really is a product of the kind of corporate society in armored core 6. There's no honestly, no earnestness, no true self. Just masks upon masks, ruthless social calculations, and stuffing down any true feelings because the only real comfort you get in this world is success and winning.

i have completely lost the thread of what he question was but i hope you enjoyed that ramble???

#armored core 6 #armored core #v.viii pater #my brain just picked this topic up and sprinted with it #i really do wanna write that pater pov on rusty tho #that admiration for a guy who's perfected the art of masking #pater unaware its bc rusty is a corporate spy #tho the possibility crosses his mind #but he's like well if he is he's doing a good job at it so good for him