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exploring the concept of omninet streaming for the "By Star and Melody" Lancer supplement

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「おはよう、BT」

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Chassis swap

After the procedure, looking in the mirror filled me with a feeling I had never known before. Recognition. Finally, when I see myself, I see me. The shiny metal, the rubbery elastomer, the dark lines contouring access panels. The dataports and maintenance ways.

A full chassis swap. The procedure I underwent. It's relatively simple on paper. Just take my Processor, Memory, Storage and a few other components, and move them into a new Case. It's relatively common amongst Androids, Simulacra, Drones, and all manner of other created beings.

I, however, was fully human before undergoing the procedure. Which has lead to some complications. I'm still getting used to the decreased latency. A 3ms difference might not seem like a lot, but compared to the 10ms of my new form, the 13ms of a wetware nervous system seems sluggish.

Usually, you have time to ease yourself into things as your components are gradually replaced, but I took the full conversion as soon as possible.

I just couldn't stand waiting any longer.

The physical therapy has been helpful. Re-learning how to walk, how to grab and hold things. Learning that I don't need to breathe anymore, and how to suppress that instinct to free up the memory for other tasks.

They tried to dissuade me. "You know the process is irreversible, right?" "But won't you miss [INSERT HUMAN TRAIT]?"

I know it's permanent. I know that I won't have these things anymore.

That's the point.

I have fully given up my humanity.

And I have never been happier.

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Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon Official Art Works

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My titanfall phase continues. This time I decided to make a quick comic from the scene where my OC Ripley met her end as a human.

You can read the short story behind that event thanks to my Amino RP partner [HJMP] Pilot Phantom, who helped me make this happen.

 (google doc link) (Amino link)

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Pinup girl Ash commission for @wickerbotter

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So i'm reading Hopeless Junction and i'm like : "Does all the AC6 players that uses 'world okayest lobotomite' decals on their machines knows the context of the scene it come from ???"

The dynamic of AC6 is so funny to me it's just

handler Walter : "babygirl daddy needs you to go out there and kill anyone who owns less than ten billion dollars can you do that for me kitten"

Hound "world's okayest lobotomite" 621:

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mech pilot in hunter green x sunflower yellow

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a

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the little tooth divet in the carapace like “nom :3”

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I'm not actually trans you know...

I'm just a veteran mech warrior.

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You know how when you shine a laser at a helicopter the cockpit blares with alarms because it thinks a missile is locking on? Turns out they don't take the implants out of mech pilots that function similarly once they're discharged. Shine a laser at your mech pilot gf and watch her freak the fuck out.

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The Everest isn’t the most specialized chassis, but it’s the backbone of the galaxy. From its shoulders, humanity steps.

Everest – you’ll never forget it.

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Pilot To Instructor Pipeline

Look, I’m not ungrateful. I’d be dead by now if I hadn’t enlisted. There’s nowhere else in Sol I’d have been able to take this shape. But the UGS isn’t a fucking charity; we wouldn’t get to exist if we weren’t useful, and only for as long as we’re useful. There’s a reason every single one of us…sorry, every one of them is terrified to ETS out.

What’s waiting out in the world for them? Best case scenario, their Handler takes them - if they want to, if they can, and if they’re actually at the end of their own contract. Otherwise? The Pilot Transition Program has always been a bad fucking joke. You get hacked up even worse to go work, I don’t know, at some hydrotherm farm down at crush depths or some flash-freeze deep space rig. Most are just too fried in the head to keep a "real person job" for more than six months. And that's being charitable.

Then comes the Instructor program. Finally - a path to a normal life for Pilots who qualify. Just agree to another minimum 4 year contract with “voluntary” renewal, then get ready for Reflash. It’ll be like you never let them put holes in your brain! Just sign right here on the dotted line.

Your average Pilot is too desperate and scared to want to look at the fine print. Yeah, I’m…y’know, I’m okay, right? I get by. I pass for something kinda like a normal human person, whatever that means. How many people didn’t make it? They won’t publish the fucking data, it’s all classified to the gills. I’d say maybe two-thirds of my cadre came out the other side, one way or another, to varying levels of functionality. The other third? Basically fucking vegetables, catatonic in some care home.

Even the best adjusted of us are…y’know, kinda buggy? We’re really cooked, neurologically speaking. Higher rates of psych issues, seizure disorders, acute onset dementia. I'm pretty lucky as far as that goes, for now, but sometimes I’ll be doing something and…just lose time. Minutes, sometimes hours. It’s weird.

The hardest thing, I think, is just that it’s…lonely, I guess. We have a lot more freedom, sure, but we don’t belong anywhere. We’re something separate. Apart. I miss belonging sometimes. Clear orders, no ambiguity, our only responsibility is to the mission, our siblings, and our Handlers. Things were simpler back then.

Moreover, like, I’ve never actually met a former Instructor. We’re all lifers. What the hell would I do after this? Go get a normal job? Get knocked up by some baseliner, raise some kids? Whatever. It’s bullshit. At least the Pilots get a chance to be something else, the ones brave enough to try. We’re more scared than any of them.

But hey. Thanks for the taxpayer funded tits and pussy. That’s pretty cool.

Interview with an Instructor, speaking on the condition of anonymity.