looking at it from a general viewpoint esp where henry knows of all the timelines, henry enjoys being with the government more than he does the toppats
I'm not saying he doesn't like the toppat routes, bc he most definitely has fun in tk, t4l, and maybe toppat recruits, but he has way more fun in routes where he's with the government, even if he's not directly working with them
there's also a slight distrust of the toppats bc they ended up betraying him twice- once in tcw and once in tb/r. the government never betrayed him if he was sided with them
besides. in the first place, henry only became toppat leader bc he threatened reginald, saw an opportunity to benefit himself, and took advantage of that. as for the government routes, he was just following orders for the most part with not much of a direct benefit for himself
henry also looks much more comfortable when he's with the government than when he's with the toppats. he's less skeptical with the government bc he knows they haven't betrayed him before- the toppats have
even when the toppats don't betray him (tk in particular), it probably feels like reginald is subtly trying to take his place back or the rest of the clan doesn't fully view henry as leader, causing a slight distrust between the clan and henry. and in tk, when reginald pulled henry up onto the rocket, he made a reference to tb (which he didn't know, but henry does), which more than likely scared the fucking shit out of henry hello?? and then the government never pulled shit like this
tl;dr henry prefers government routes over toppat routes
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Give me headcanons of Reg and rhm going to a beauty parlour (I need to hear it!!)
Hello, forgive the wait, hope you enjoy!
It would be run by a group in the Toppat Clan. Reginald may put his trust in fast food, but he definitely wouldn't trust someone outside the Toppat Clan laying hands on him, ESPECIALLY when it comes to his physical appearance.
That said, he probably was taken to a barbershop a couple of times as a kid.
His Right Hand Man would be both nervous and excited. Any times he went to one prior would've been during his childhood, AKA pre-transition, which would involve different styling.
Naturally, one being a bodyguard and the other being incredibly anxious, both have their reservations, but are eventually convinced to go (who convinces them depends on the timeline, but it’d probably be either an elite (TR) or Henry and/or Ellie (TK and T4L).
The Right Hand Man overall is less picky about what he’ll let people do. Part of him wants to try everything, and he doesn’t mind being gender nonconforming.
Stuff gets a LOT more complicated with his cybernetics, though. They ended up getting a mechanic to polish the metal.
Reginald is a bit more reserved. He’s glad to have his mustache get a professional’s touch and get the rest of his face beautified, but a massage is just too vulnerable for him. For now, at least.
Gloves and shoes stay ON. You will not change his mind on this.
Reginald and his Right Hand Man got a day to just relax. They get done and find out that Henry fucked with the Topbot and it caused chaos on the other side of the orbital station.
Yes the other side of the orbital station is a wreck, but mostly the two of them are glad they didn’t have to deal with it for once.
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WIP Wednesday rolls around once again
This time we got an intro scene, plus a rewritten part of what I shared prior.
Forgot to mention in my last WIP Post that this fic does depict a character experiencing burnout and/or depression. Just as a heads up.
Research and Development's Thursday afternoon check-in meeting was well underway, only Zanzo had yet to arrive. Had this been his first absence, Macaron could let it slide. His index finger, seemingly of its own accord, rubbed the spine of the work journal clipped to his belt. He would have to seek him out afterwards, wouldn't he?
"Eyeballing his chair won't make him appear, sir," O5-KAR said, accented in trademark brogue. "It's best to keep on with business."
"Right." Macaron (does something). "How close are we to implementing the new BRU-T4L AI?"
"We finished another round of testing in Chamber Two," a PGR-0101 piped up. #11133 according to their worker identification badge. "But as you remember from the video I linked, things aren't going well."
Macaron knew. Four PGR-0101 units supervised a BRU-T4L, a seven foot monstrosity with spinning blades attached to its hands, as it pruned a potted hedge. For reasons currently under investigation, a CUT-WAN fresh out of repair bounded into the testing chamber. The BRU-T4L paused its labor, scrutinizing the robotic dog. Everyone watched in horror as the BRU-T4L reached down and… cradled the CUT-WAN in its long, rubbery arms. Attempts to retrieve the CUT-WAN from the otherwise aggressive BRU-T4L's hold resulted in snarling and severed mechanical limbs. Staff had to wait until the BRU-T4L ended its rumbling punctuated cuddle session on its own.
"I reviewed the code afterwards," #11133 said. "Someone edited it right before we installed it. The perpetrator added a series of commands related to a 'baby rocking mode'." Their statement ended with an air of disbelief. "To make things weirder, these same commands originated from the earliest iteration of the BRU-T4L's code."
Macaron thought for a moment. "Could Zanzo have added it?"
#11133 began. "Zanzo's an engineer-"
"And a disorganized one at that," O5-KAR interjected.
"So he often left the programming to us robots. The last time he added a special feature to a product was to make it explode."
…
"Is Zanzo in his office?" Macaron asked #11133 as they were leaving.
"Probably. I don't think he's left since clocking in this morning."
...
Macaron knocked once before opening the office door. True to the SCR-UB's assessment, the area was a disaster zone. Notes and diagrams littered the floor, increasing in amount closer to Zanzo's desk. Out of curiosity, Macaron picked one up to read, only to find it marred by red ink scribbles and the scrawled comment: "AWFUL!!! Needs More PUNCH".
Zanzo sat behind his desk, face planted on its surface. Most of his natural black hair had grown back in, leaving green tips. Its current style partly obscured the polymer port covers where his neural wires plugged in. (Zanzo didn't wear them now, as his current status blocked him from work pipeline access.) Macaron thought Zanzo was asleep until he raised his head. He pushed back from the desk, face frozen in a blank stare. Dark circles ringed his eyes and stubble covered his cheeks.
"Zanzo?" Macaron reached over to tap him on the shoulder. Zanzo caught the movement, nearly launching himself off his chair with a gasp. He scrambled to up the volume on his aural implants - silver disks located where organic ears would be.
“Mister Macaron! Are you here to tell me how good of a worker drone I’m being?” Zanzo smiled broadly, though it didn’t reach his eyes. Without waiting for a response, he clapped his hands together. "Since you've graced me with your presence, I can show you, uh, show you the current model. One minute." Zanzo focused his attention on the computer, flipping through multiple tabs with dizzying speed.
Macaron rested a hand near Zanzo's forearm, and the latter froze. "You can email it to me afterwards." He pulled up a nearby stool and perched on it. "Zanzo, is everything alright?"
Zanzo chuckled. "I'm not dying anytime soon. You'll have to tolerate me a little bit longer."
"That's not what I-" Macaron cleared his throat. "You've skipped three staff meetings in a row."
"We're just doing the same thing we've done all month. Checking in is redundant. It's not like there won't be a summary log tomorrow."
Time for Macaron to play his trump card. "Then I suppose the fact we've moved on to renovating the BRU-T4L is of no interest to you."
"Perhaps." Zanzo stroked his goatee in a more absent minded way as he looked off to the side. Not the reaction Macaron hoped for.
"It's like one of your, er, babies. Shouldn't you be more worried about what'll happen to it?"
Zanzo paused to side-eye Macaron. "You've never consulted me about modifying my other creations before. What's changed?"
“I wanted to ask you about a specific feature the BRU-T4L has," Macaron said after a long pause.
A brief spark lit up in Zanzo's eyes as he straightened his posture. In that moment, Macaron glimpsed the engineering intern who'd pestered him with robot design concepts all those years ago. "By all means, ask away."
"Why does it have a 'baby rocking' feature? It stands out compared to everything else."
"Why not?" Zanzo waved dismissively. "So maybe a self indulgent thought slipped through the pipeline during my drafting. And maybe, I neglected to remove the resulting feature. It doesn't carry as much weight as you think it does."
"You like being rocked?" The image of Zanzo cradled by the BRU-T4L in a similar manner to that CUT-WAN popped into Macaron's mind. Odd and, as Chai would say, mildly cursed.
Zanzo's jaw dropped. "I- not necessarily."
"Would something like that help you destress?"
"I ALREADY SAID-" Zanzo's outburst cut off and he sank down into his chair, rubbing his face. He let out a sigh. "Don't patronize me for this. Please."
Since when did Zanzo ever say "please"? "Zanzo," Macaron began. "I promise I'm not making fun of you. My priority right now is finding a way to support you."
"To answer your previous question, rocking is one of my stims. I rarely do so at work because…" Macaron nodded to encourage Zanzo finishing his sentence. Except he let it hang.
A long silence passed between them. Macaron broke it. "I'm thinking maybe that feature could be incorporated into a robot which doesn't have saw-blade hands. While we may be focused on renovating our current product line, that doesn't mean we can't plan for the future. This could be an opportunity to create something beneficial."
The corner of Zanzo's mouth twitched. "It's not exciting, though. Are you sure anyone would invest in it?"
"SCR-UBs clean. CAR-11Es, er, carry stuff," Macaron explained. "What they do is simple, but necessary. Most of the time, that's all anyone needs."
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Stickmintober Day 16: Ellie Rose
After the Ultimate Freeze Fail in the T4L Route (courtesy of the CCC)...
Ellie: This whole time freeze thing has been lucrative.
Ellie: Makes your wallets really accessible!
Ellie: Also, stolen merchandise.
Ellie: REALLY accessible!
----------------------------------------------------------
Why isn't Ellie affected by the Ultimate Freeze?
Uh... something something, Ellie has the Force?
See you tomorrow for Day 17!
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