#< tagging in case i do more which I.. might

[naw-naw-honeyimgood]

sometimes i go back to reread my posts and i just have to stop and laugh at my kaitlyn not wanting to be a council member post lololol

like i had my main point of "kaitlyn not wanting to be on the council in the first place so if she did give up 'her seat' then it wasn't out of the goodness of her heart'. but it absolutely devolved into a rant over kaitlyn thinking she'd made a better difference as a cop than as a politician being the peak Stupidest thing she could think lmao

if you read my tags on that post this makes more sense bcuz once I wrote that i've been back in an fmab mood and everytime The Flame Alchemist pops up I just feel more vindicated.

It honestly just kinda pisses me off a little tbh. She's handed all of this political and social power on a golden platter. She's the Kiramman Heir. Her mom's one of 6/7 counselors that make decisions regarding the entire city.

Someone made the point that the seat Sevika ended up taking wasn't hers to give, and that this was proven by the line in S2E1 "This is a closed council meeting! Who let you in here?" implying that she wasn't a council member. Again, I don't particularly know for a fact one way or the other whether it was, but I do want to point out that one of her rebuttals for Salo at that moment was that she was Leader of House Kiramman. Maybe that just meant that her family had enough power to be respected even without being a council member, or maybe that implied that the seat was hers to claim and she just hadn't yet? Honestly my biggest sore point in that convo was the "decorated officer" bit because that line infuriates me, but not the point. We're continuing here on the assumption that it was Kaitlyn's seat to claim/refuse.

So the reason her entire ideal set irritates me: she's set up as the Innocent archetype. She's a naive, sheltered young miss who believes in the possibility of an ideal world. With her family's position and money she has the ability to make a world of difference. And she squanders it! She turns her nose up at all the advantages Piltover has to offer her! Imagine how much good she could do if she put all her weight into where her mouth was and did something! But no. For some reason she attached so strongly to Grayson's words in that backstory of hers that she thought being a cop would give her more ability to take action????

It's funny- I actually admittedly never really like Kaitlyn as a character, even before her season 2 fiasco. I've never really liked her category of "rich naive privileged princess who's sheltered but doesn't like being sheltered but doesn't really do anything about being sheltered". It's way too sugary-sweet of a type that makes a character boring to dislikable for me. It's not like I hated her (back then), I just... didn't like her. Definitely wasn't a fan of her and Vi becoming a thing, since Vi's my 2nd fav and their relationship just seemed so sudden and out of nowhere and honestly incomprehensible considering the circumstances (might make a separate post about That later).

But the worst part about especially season 1 Kaitlyn was that she was the Poster Child of contradicting herself and spouting hypocrisy. She wanted to Do Something, but the only possible way she tried was through the "honest channels" of being a cop grunt? Until she gets forcibly ejected from her job, in which she keeps her uniform and badge on her, forges Jayce's signature, to free a high-security prisoner just to help her solve her case? ntm she went down to meet Vi knowing there was nothing on her record, and still nearly left her there anyway TWICE!

Her entire conversation with Ekko was honestly gross too. Everything he says about his experience living as a citizen of the Undercity is immediately refuted and/or denied by Princess Kiramman, little miss self-proclaimed "she'd do anything to keep me from learning about the real world". "It's a misunderstanding" she tells the boy who grew up in these circumstances. "That's not possible" and, my favorite, "You're wrong." And then she proceeds to say the lines "If the enforcers have been more... aggressive, that's why." Note "more aggressive." So you know that enforcers have a baseline of aggression in regards to those from the Undercity, hmm? Kaitlyn? The crown jewel of that conversation that follows her in the ultimate irony is her cycle of violence line. (completely setting aside for a moment that when one side is actively oppressing the other, the phrase already falls apart)

It's the height of hypocrisy to drop the line "if you perpetuate violence, the cycle will never stop", and then when you're the one that's hurt you just go exactly against what you preached. It's giving... "If we hurt you then you have to let it go or you're just perpetuating the cycle. *gasp*! You hurt me??? You'll pay for that!!!"

[i-know-im-smart]

Hey everyone! I’m finally defeating my inner demons by posting links to my polymike fics here! They’re all part of the same continuity to me, but I think they can be read separately. Enjoy!

series link:

individual works below!

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Deltarune (Video Game)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Cat Mike & Cowboy Hat Mike & Small Mike (Deltarune)

Characters: Cat Mike (Deltarune), Cowboy Hat Mike (Deltarune), Small Mike (Deltarune)

Additional Tags: Body Dysphoria, Fluff, Pre-Canon, Overworking, Minigame names as fake mike names, Pluey is otherkin to me, Secret Identity, Nonverbal Communication

Summary: ““For your costume, just make something similar enough that at a glance it looks close, you know?” Pluey nodded. In that case, they might have a chance to do something with this…”

The Mike trio’s origin story, and Pluey trying on their costume for the first time.

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Deltarune (Video Game)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Cat Mike/Cowboy Hat Mike/Small Mike (Deltarune), Cat Mike/Cowboy Hat Mike (Deltarune), Cat Mike & Cowboy Hat Mike & Small Mike (Deltarune)

Characters: Small Mike (Deltarune), Cat Mike (Deltarune), Cowboy Hat Mike (Deltarune)

Additional Tags: Denial of Feelings, Feelings Realization, Polyamory, Pre-Canon, (though that's not really relevant), Autism, Everyone is Queer and Neurodivergent, Small Mike is autistic, no beta we die like me when fighting literally any secret boss smh, Anxiety, Co-workers to lovers, Friends to Lovers, Workplace Relationship, Minigame names as fake mike names, Fluff, Overworking, Oblivious, Misunderstandings, Battat does have a brief moment of what could be, Panic Attacks, but it’s not really touched on and is solved pretty easily, i might write more for these guys who knows, Nonverbal Communication

Summary: Jongler and Pluey were dating, which would have been fine if it hadn’t somehow eroded their personal boundaries down to nothing! Seriously, on their limited time off, Battat couldn’t go five minutes without having one or both of them touching him! And that wasn’t even touching on the PDA while he was right there. On the same couch in some cases!! It was embarrassing, frankly. It wasn’t the end of the world, of course, they were all friends at the end of the day, but he wasn’t dating them, so it didn’t make sense why they were so… Like That with him.

aka: after a long day at work, the three Mikes hang out in their shared room.

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Deltarune (Video Game)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Cat Mike/Cowboy Hat Mike/Small Mike (Deltarune), Cat Mike/Cowboy Hat Mike (Deltarune), Cat Mike/Small Mike (Deltarune), Cowboy Hat Mike/Small Mike (Deltarune), Cat Mike & Cowboy Hat Mike & Small Mike (Deltarune)

Characters: Cowboy Hat Mike (Deltarune), Cat Mike (Deltarune), Small Mike (Deltarune)

Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Minigame names as fake mike names, Teasing, Flirting, Overworking, Nonverbal Communication, Jongler and Pluey use they/them pronouns, Small Mike is autistic, Autism, Everyone is Queer and Neurodivergent, Polyamory, Size Difference, i guess. jongler is really tall, Established Relationship, Kissing, like a lot of kissing. like way more than you’d expect given jongler has no mouth, Neck Kissing, hand kissing, How do I even tag this lol, battat flusters easily, Author is aroace, Biting, they are FREAKS /affectionate

Summary: Battat overworking himself for the 50 billionth time, whatever will his partners do?

[a-sky-full-of-ideas]

Okay so here are some Akram x Carl fics I need (more of) asap

mainly ones in which one of them is (inexplicably) jealous!

Jealous!Carl:

So for fics he doesn’t realises that he is jealous cause he is in love with, he just keeps blaming it on “unprofessionalism” and “just looking out for Akram”

In fics where he DOES know it, he swings back and forth between overtly sarcastic and possessive of Akram to being more distant than ever and overtly professional, people are getting concerned

But what happens ?

A former friend/colleague of Akram is essential to a case (he is genuine good guy) and Carl can’t stand their closeness.

As we have seen Akrams tends to stay a bit longer with the victims (family) and says some encouragement. Carl is unreasonably annoyed by it and everyone thinks his aversion to politeness. But he just can’t stand Akrams focus to be on anyone or anything other than himself.

Akram mourning his wife and Carl feels like a total jackass to be jealous of a dead woman. A clearly so wonderful one at that.

People catch on that it’s actually Akram being the genius and try to persuade him to change departments. Carl does not like it one bit but he realistically knows it might be better for Akrams career to not depend on HIM of all people. Does he push Akram to take these offers as a self sacrifice? Does he threaten everyone ?

And how does Akram react ?

In fics where ehe DOES realise what’s happening I think he would drag it out a bit,both to test, if his theory is correct, as well as to give Carl a chance to just confess himself(which he doesn’t), only to confront Carl in the most inconvenient moment (aka embarrassing for Carl or highly anxious)

If Carl is the angry kind of jealous in the fix it would at some point annoy Akram, just cause it angers, terrifies or otherwise hurt their clients. So he confronts Carl about the unprofessional part in this and asks him what is going on with him and that he should fix it but in his usually matter of fact way.

If Carl is the distant type of jealous in the fic, Akram too would confront him at some point to ask what he did wrong and how he can fix it and pls don’t hate or fire me. “I will find a way to fix it.” Carl has a mental breakdown realising how he hurt Akram.

Jealous!Akram:

I think Akram would not be visibly jealous besides a sad or angry glint his eye that Carl can’t decipher. Taking a step back her and there but overall nothing you can pinpoint as “off”. An Internal conflict. Only if the cause of his jealousy turns out to be a dick (working for the bad guys) he is more enthusiastic to break a spine than usually. His professional opinion of course.

But what happens?

Akram assumes Martin and Carl are a thing bc they live together and raise a son (there is already a good fic for this but pls do more!)

Akram assumes Carl is hung up on James, especially since all the nurses and other people make jokes or assumptions about them being partners, where as no one ever assumes HIM to be Carls partner. ‘Is he not good enough to seem like Carls partner for only a second ?’

If carl plays into the joke it’s cause he is so relieved that nobody assumes Akram is his partner or he would be a blushing mess and this is easier

If Carl is visibly disgusted, he keeps wishing it’s Akram they would assume is his partner but clearly everyone knows Akram is way out of his league. Too bad that Akram assumes him homophobic or at least averse to being gay/bi himself.

Akram sees Carl and his therapist becoming friends and assumes due to their private meetings and flirtatious banter (it’s Carl deflecting and sometimes she indulges his decision to not think)

A former colleague of Carl helps them (not a good guy) (Akrams is a bit too happy about pushing him down the stairs too)

These are prompts aka pls write them!!! Tag me perhaps so I can read them but feel free to use any and every snippet I wrote in whatever combination !!! Experiment !!

[front-facing-pokemon]

to answer your question on the greninja post, ash greninja was created because they wanted ash to have a mega but didn’t want him to catch any older pokemon or bring back any of his older ones and the issue was he only had kalos mons(plus pikachu) which don’t have megas(besides diancie) so they just. gave greninja his own thing. and then they gave him a mega in journeys anyway

well! an interesting find, tumblr user punkishtoxtricity. i'm surprised we've got this amount of insider knowledge on the development of anipoké. though i would argue that ash-greninja doesn't really fill the role of A Mega. and i would also argue that this feels like the first time i've ever seen them give such strong favoritism to one (1) starter out of a triplet (aside from charizard, which bascially doesn't even count as a starter anymore because it's just Fuckin Charizard). i feel like if they wanted to give any pokémon their Own Thing i'm surprised they didn't do it to pikachu. why greninja specifically. sure i guess

more:

what the fuck. sigilyph and whatever can eat them, right?? and metapod and kakuna and whatever. no way they disable Specifically Spewpa from eating them. ok no i just checked and kakuna and metapod absolutely cannot eat either. what the hell. i Swear i've seen a pokémon with no mouth eating a poképuff before. maybe this is another "smash brawl crying" (did i tell that story on here? i think it was on my main blog) situation. or just a false memory. that seems more likely

TRUE

huh? wh. wha– whahaggwgh whaat's happening to me. AhahuhAGAAAHGRGUGHRUGHURGHRHGR. RHGHRHRG RHRHR GHRR DHSHGGRGHFHDG

HGGRGRGRGRRRR

ahem. if i had a team of six pokémon in what game is the real question. but i assume you're talking in the ideal game with the full natdex and it's perfect and whatever. y'know, i did one of those big Favorite Pokémon charts a few years back—let's see what i did on that

looks like this is what i chose in 2022ish! looks like i focused on having a solid spread of type matchups. versatility above all! i think it'd be a pretty good team to hit the elite four with

unless you mean if i had pokémon in Real Life. which. i don't even know. or unless you mean if i had a Government-Assigned team of six pokémon because they're what i Feel like i would end up with. or if this is what team i would Want to have because i Like them the most. so many ways to interpret this question but i'll go with the answer that i came up with a few years ago and stick with ↑ that team up there

ok !

(the tags in question) ↓

hey i literally just completely forgot how clamperl evolves. somehow i got it into my head that clamperl evolves into gorebyss if it's female and huntail if it's male. that's not the case, they're both fuckin trade evos and they both require different items and they can both be equally male or female. i genuinely was so ready to answer this ask with "errmmm… hhaha… you know gorebyss is only female, right..?" but no i was just wrong? i don't know who told me this but i firmly believed it before i checked Just Now

well. good thing i checked. that is indeed why i say to never believe anything i say. hold on there was a really good joke about that that someone made in the tags one time way back in the original round of the dex lemme find it

okay there's no fuckin way i'm finding this but it was like. i said something in the tags of a post (i don't remember which one) where i was like yadda yadda well i might be incorrect. and you shouldn't believe everything i say. or something like that. and then someone reblogged it and wrote in the tags some shit like "hi i believe everything i read on the internet uncritically. op says we should (entirely misconstruing what i said so that i sound evil and nefarious)" and it was hilarious. this recounting of it is not funny because i am just explaining it but i promise it was very funny

i looked again i still can't find it. sad day. even sadder that now i have to go back to working. because i can't allow myself to play video games without feeling awful when i have an Unfinished Task. even if the task is weighing on me significantly. because it is a difficult task. and it is reasonable if it takes multiple days. naurp not how my brain works because i fear getting too far behind and letting shit build up and then having to do even More work

[mamawasatesttube]

"oOoOohhh kon is just sooooo sad about tim/ber for forever and he's pining but he's trying soooOOoo hard to be happy for his best friend and it's just sOoOooo tragic and bittersweet that tim/kon never worked out and he's sooo sad for life--" im actually going to start beating you people over the head with a brick made out of all 100 issues of superboy (1994) until you start to comprehend that kon is a character on his own whose life does not revolve around tim. jesus fucking christ

[critter-wizard]

ep 43 had me tearing up in a fucking shopping centre ‼️‼️

b+w alt version that I truly couldn't decide if I liked it more . Also I included a lot of thoughts in the tags but they're somewhat incoherent<3

[marinsawakening]

LOZ Fic Recs

Deciding to use my hobby of autistically crawling through AO3 tags for good. I'm prioritizing fics with less than 50 kudos. None of these are ship fics, most don't have any romance. All of these are completed one shots, most under 10k words.

Skies, Surfaces, and the Hero Chef That Can't Actually Cook by greatduwangs

Summary: Link's cooking sidequest in Skyward Sword, which goes about as well as you'd expect. Or, the missing ingredient was a home all along, or whatever.

Why I recommend it: 4.5k of Link eating things he shouldn't. Very funny and very cute!

Big Dark by phlyarologist

Summary: Character study of Mido as the events of Ocarina of Time change him, worldbuilding the Kokiri and examining what it means to grow up.

Why I recommend it: Contender for the best LOZ fic I've ever read. Brilliant worldbuilding and characterization, and a fantastic understanding of childhood and its nuances that you rarely see outside of fiction aimed at children.

loop - synonyms: coil, noose, ring, circle by MidnightBunnyy

Summary: Fi gets stuck in a timeloop and is very... well, Fi about it.

Why I recommend it: Excellent Fi characterization that leads to a very funny take on a time loop scenario while still being a serious story.

Notes: Restricted work, only available to AO3 users.

A Legacy Cast in Stone by sagittamoth

Summary: Pre-Skyward Sword Sheikah worldbuilding following an OC who works with the robots and timeshift stones in the last days before the war.

Why I recommend it: Does a great job with worldbuilding, creating a vibrant world that slots neatly into the greater Skyward Sword canon.

missing by fandomsandshit

Summary: Drabble exploring Zelda's time in the dungeon.

Why I recommend it: Does a brilliant job painting fear and an oppressive atmosphere, with stellar Zelda characterization.

Growth by herohelio

Summary: Two connected snippets of Malon in the adult timeline, meeting Link again.

Why I recommend it: Adorable Link and Malon friendship and great Malon characterization, with very effective hints at what living under Ingo had been like.

Because each time we live by grainjew

Summary: Follows Link through ALTTP, written through the lens of the reincarnation theory with a focus on connection to the wider LOZ series.

Why I recommend it: Author described it as a 'mood piece', which it absolutely is and is very good at. I like the surreal and blurry way reincarnation is portrayed in this fic, and it has a great take on the maidens.

Blind and the Bunny by justAPassingThought

Summary: A character study of Blind the Thief through his defeat in the Thieves’ Hideout Dungeon.

Why I recommend it: Excellent exploration of the Dark World and the way its transformations work, and I really like Blind's view on Link's Dark World form.

Litany of Betrayal by RawLiverAndCigarettes

Summary: A foreign warlord swears fielty to the king of Hyrule. Impa knows what the stranger truly wants. She has seen it before. She can still taste the ash.

Why I recommend it: Fantastic character study of Ganondorf and Impa in Ocarina of Time. Everyone is horrible and I'm thriving. Incorporates Hylia into the OOT canon in a way I find actually interesting. Fascinating worldbuilding in general.

Notes: Prequel to a novel-length fic I have not read (I'm terrible at reading long fics rip).

that gentle hubris by cassiopeian

Summary: Zelda bares her soul at the Spring of Wisdom, but the answers she seeks do not come from a goddess.

Why I recommend it: Mipha and Zelda friendship, a fun take on Zora mythology and I always love mortals forging their own paths in worlds where gods are objectively real.

Hunger by Anonymous

Summary: Sequel to Grace, where Zelda struggles to reckon with perceptions out of her control. Link is there to help point out what she's missed. Can be read as standalone.

Why I recommend it: Autistic Zelda, queerplatonic zelink, and a great portrayal of the hunger that comes with trauma.

Notes: Sequel to a fic that is also very good.

As Above, So Below by Mothlight_Witch

Summary: An exploration of the Depths and Hyrule's cosmology.

Why I recommend it: The other contender for 'best LOZ fic I've read'. Astounding atmosphere and worldbuilding, incredibly unique and all-around breathtaking. Lives in my head rent free.

What is your wish? by AdeptArcanist

Summary: Character study of Vaati connecting him to Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask.

Why I recommend it: Very weird and unique take on LOZ lore and I'm so incredibly here for that.

Linner (Link Dinner) by waterglider

Summary: An adaptation of one of Zelda's diary entries set after the "Blades of the Yiga" memory. After a very irritating person saves her life, Zelda has developed a theory-- one she plans to test.

Why I recommend it: Zelda is kinda mean and Link is a monarchist bootlicker. I adore this take on pre-Calamity Link, he's genuinely insufferable and I love that. If I ever end up writing pre-Calamity Link I'm so stealing this characterization.

Notes: Sequel to another stellar fic, prequel to an in progress novel-length fanfic that I have not read (again, terrible at reading longer fic).

[cassiskurocorner]

Art for @echoshunsnarcissus 's fic Skyward Symphonies. I heard you were working on the next chapter 0:) please use this as more motivation!

Alternate versions under cut!

[starflungwaddledee]

They called me goofy...

:'D

well i'm pretty sure they won't do it again!

> follow up of this

[olessan]

I needed an excuse to motivate me intro drawing something different from my usual to get my art engine restarted, so I drew some spooky buns for a Redbubble contest. A pair of skvaders!

They're listed (here) 🐇

[struggling-jpg]

Yanqing and Yunli Appreciation Post

Keep Reading cut due to 2.4 spoilers~ (also relatively long-ish post)

These two bounce off each other so well! As a writer, it feels so satisfying to see their characters shine through the quest and the event in the way their interactions highlight them. So I'm gonna use this space to ramble about it!

My previous post pretty much talked about it already, but Yanqing!!! My son!!! I was quite worried that any potential arc for him would be shoved down the road or to the side due to the scale HSR has, but the game's been actually holding up to his ongoing arc. As a result, at least to me, he's come through as one of the best written/developed characters on the Xianzhou so far.

The nature of the length of the updates lets what we get in previous quests settle in for a long while, and considering the mentioned of flow of time in-game, Yanqing's had the time to think and develop as a person. The fact that so many players have had their view and opinion of him finally turn around in this quest is a testament to that. We get to see more facets of him, as in, doing his job and the responsibilities of doing so, and how his insecurities are mentioned in a main quest for all to see. He's constantly referencing others and his past encounters. You can tell that Jing Yuan raised him with his manner and approach to things, which is highlighted by the contrast to Yunli (will get to that soon).

His position as a child soldier has made him mature faster, be quiet even when he's been wronged (filial piety/saving face (aka thank you person on Reddit who makes the banger character Yanqing (and other characters in general) appreciation posts)), take a step back and have to be able to read the room (though, reasonably, he doesn't catch on all the time), and much, much more. The fact that other official content has described him as being more worried about diplomacy and all that. He doesn't have the luxury to be as carefree or brash for someone his age.

There's a lot to unpack there still, even with the development he's had now and that's good! If the Hoyo writing team was wild enough, it'd be cool to see them address the grayness of his role and Jing Yuan's mindset in raising him as he did (We love Dad-Yuan and he loves his son dearly no question, but it'd be so interesting to explore his flaws/mistakes in this perspective!).

Now onto Yunli.

I'm saying straight off the bat, I'm irritated by her!

And that's a good thing!

Her being annoying or bratty or irritating doesn't automatically make her a badly written character! She only would become one if they don't do anything with her, and HSR most probably will, and she should be given the same room to develop in her own arc.

She acts like her age, and she doesn't have the same pressures as Yanqing does. Just like how you can see Jing Yuan in Yanqing, you can see Huaiyan in Yunli, if anything he says is to go by. She's tempremental and outspoken to a fault, and based on the way how quickly Huaiyan relented when she talked back, you can tell that Huaiyan isn't as strict/stern with her to give her a sense of being humble.

I had this thought that she's technically what the general fandom viewed Yanqing as initially, and I'm not saying that as a 100% thing, by the way. But like by some traits and the vibes. She, of course, has a lot more nuance that will be explored at one point or another.

But back on topic, she's a foil. They represent two different approaches and lifestyles and can clearly learn from each other. Her inconsideration of the fact that she's on the Luofu but enforcing Zhuming practices (which I noticed people were upset by, and same; which I imagine is the point), her bluntness to no matter who she's talking to—there's a lot to work with here.

Just like with their swordplay, Yanqing could learn from her mental strength while Yunli can learn from his focused speed and defense. He can learn to regain a more firm grasp of his recently found purpose while she can learn to mature and take in her surroundings and be more thoughtful in that front.

Another interesting note is that where we are with Yanqing currently is in the middle of his arc, we've had the time to see him take a long route of struggle to get to this point, exacerbated by irl players views of him. He's in the middle of his growth and we've had since 1.0 to get to know him. But with Yunli, she was introduced very recently, so we're technically at the "beginning" of her character arc. In a way, Yunli now highlights how far Yanqing has come and changed, and in a way Yanqing now is a potential show for the arc that Yunli can have (not being the exact same as him of course).

I think the idea with these two is that they develop to be more balanced. Balance is such an important thing, especially in Chinese culture (Daoism (Yin-Yang), etc.), and 2.4 has shown how much potential they have to make for amazing character arcs.

It's cool that while they have such similar base traits, they're so different from each other. Calling Yunli a female Yanqing or Yanqing a male Yunli is simply outright incorrect. Their backgrounds, upbringings, ideals, swordstyles, perspectives, and positions in life are so distinct. I'm looking forward to their futures!

[telesodalite]

...thinking of maybe... of maybe drawing some more scav yuri, of varying levels of cute or unhinged (or both👀?), for the love month, for my mental health or whatever, so uh, is there any particular pairing or such that anyone would wanna see? I need excuses lol

[liquidstar]

a friend who'd wait :)

[riiviir]

hey guys so I just started reading Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott and OMG AHSBNSBSBSNSNBSHZHSHDBFHGGHFHGRJ2KSHSBSNSK AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I LOVE THINKING ABOUT THE RELATIVITY BETWEEN DIMENSIONS!!!!!!

[thedragonhermit]

More Person of Interest x Fallout AU!

I said in my previous art post that if I kept thinking about this AU I would post more about it, and guess what, I've been thinking about it :)))) So here's a summary of what I've currently got for it (I say "summary" but this ended up really long oops)

John Reese

His backstory is practically the same as PoI canon except it all happened in the pre-War Fallout universe, with the CIA National Clandestine Service: Special Activities Division under the control of the pre-War Enclave. Him, Staton, and Snow still had their final mission in China, but their infiltration was more high stakes as it was during the Sino-American War.

After surviving the missile strike, Reese manages to return to the States and works to track down Jessica just like in canon, only his search leads him to the community of Sanctuary Hills near Boston. By the time Reese gets there, she's already dead.

He learns her husband Peter abused her/disguised her cause of death as a car accident, and avenges her the night of October 22, 2077 by disposing of Peter. The following morning, Reese, still wallowing in his despair and rage over not being there for Jessica, is still in their house when a representative from Vault-Tec shows up at the door. He ends up answering and is signed up for Vault 111 under Peter Arndt's name.

Just like in Fallout 4, the representative's timing couldn't be more perfect as the bombs start falling not long after. Although Reese is in a state where he wouldn't mind going out with nuclear fire, he's whisked off to Vault 111 with the other residents who've applied, enters just as Boston is hit, is provided a vault suit to change into, and is directed into a "decontamination" pod-- aka a cryopod meant for testing the affects of long term stasis.

Reese doesn't wake up until 210 years later when the Vault's life support systems are beginning to crash, and exits to find a bespectacled man claiming to have just saved his life and somehow knows his name is John Reese; not Peter Arndt as Vault-Tec's records claim. He also manages to convince Reese not to kill him over knowing all this and to instead join the cause he woke him up for.

Harold Finch

A researcher for the Advanced Systems division of the Institute, though oddly not everyone can agree whether he was brought into their fold from the outside, or if he's always been there. Despite being in Advanced Systems, his work is primarily for the Synth Retention Bureau as the sophisticated Machine he built and maintains provides them their mass surveillance of the Commonwealth, while also predicting potential threats and locating runaway synths with incredible accuracy.

Finch is also seemingly the only one in the Institute who has a modicum of sympathy for the "uncouth, unclean, and uneducated" masses above ground, considering he's secretly using his Machine to try and help the people of the Commonwealth-- even if those efforts conflict with the Institute's plans.

He's a very mysterious and private man; the more you learn about him, the less you seem to really know him. Finch will talk about places and factions outside the Commonwealth as if he's seen them with his own eyes/interacted with them himself, and yet will deny having done so. He'll even talk that way about pre-War events, unnerving Reese with implications that Finch is from his time.

The Truth: he was born around 2234 and raised Harold Wren in the Enclave alongside his best friend, Nathan Ingram, with the two building the Machine together at Raven Rock. When their creation (mostly Harold's creation as Nathan would admit) neared it's official completion in 2276, Nathan confided in Harold that he'd overheard the Enclave higher ups' true intent for it-- to merge it's surveillance and predictive capabilities into President Eden; effectively erasing the Machine's emerging identity and just making it a part of the pre-War ZAX unit.

Harold was seemingly unbothered, having suspected this was going to happen and already accepted it, but Nathan was less accepting. Vowing to save the "life" Harold had inadvertently created, he downloaded the Machine's code from Raven Rock's servers and split it between two portable devices -- a modified Pip-Boy and an eyebot -- so he could run away from the Enclave with it. Harold learned of this plan when Nathan gave him one last chance to join him, only for Harold to try and talk him out of it. His friend's mind was stubbornly made up, however.

Harold didn't let Nathan get too far from Raven Rock before finally going after him, unable to abandon (or be abandoned) by his childhood best friend. Nathan was so pleased, he immediately handed over the Pip-Boy, claiming Harold technically held more custody over the Machine, then took a few unfortunate steps right into a hidden landmine.

Harold woke up, head pounding and the back of his neck bleeding, with the eyebot beeping frantically over him. When he sat up, he saw that Nathan was dead and that the Machine was somehow still functioning despite the haphazard way it's code had been cut in half, warning him of imminent danger on the Pip-Boy's screen. The Enclave was already coming after them.

Though it was extremely hard to leave his best friend, let alone how painful it was to move, Harold got to his feet with the eyebot's help and limped to the closest settlement to get quickly patched up before leaving the Capital Wasteland altogether.

He spent the next few years wandering the greater Wasteland with the Machine as his only companion; getting the Enclave off their trail with a convincing dead body double, trying not to attract the attention of the Brotherhood of Steel or more deadly factions like Caesar's Legion, all the while coming to better understand the very thing he'd built.

When Harold learned of the Institute in the Commonwealth, he convinced their Director into letting him join, then uploaded most of the Machine into their servers to hide it from Enclave and BoS searching-- though he kept the most vital code on the eyebot and a back door in his Pip-Boy to shield it from the Institute themselves (all parts of the Machine communicate remotely via an encrypted radio station).

Having seen the greater Wasteland for what it was, Harold gained a sympathy he hadn't been raised with while in the Enclave; a sympathy he could see the Institute also lacked. So he elected to take matters into his own hands and improve it with the Machine. But they couldn't do it alone.

Thankfully, he had happened to read an old, pre-War Enclave record when he was younger about an exceptional agent named John Reese who'd allegedly ended up in Boston despite being pronounced dead on mission in China...

The Machine

Considered a "miracle" as it's the first AI of it's scale to be successfully created post-War.

It's eyebot hides in plain sight among the eyebots that patrol Diamond City when it's not with Finch.

In PoI canon, the Machine provides it's "irrelevant" numbers by listing letters that match up to authors on books in Finch's library, with the dewey decimal system becoming the target's social security number. That system is flipped in this AU; the Machine gives numbers that match up with books in the Boston Public Library (Finch and Reese's hideout, tho I can't decide if they left the super mutants in it to help with their cover lol) that spell out their target's name.

Okay great, they have a name, now how do they track them down without the internet? Well, the Institute with all its surveillance of the Commonwealth has a large database of "persons of interest" that Finch just so happens to be able to access (I think in F4 it's just lists their secret synth agents?? But I feel like they also listed off people they felt may cause issues... idk, if that's not canon, it is canon for this AU!)

There are names they receive that don't appear in that database however, meaning the boys have to track them down the old fashion way-- asking around until someone who knows the target tells them where they are. The Machine will help sometimes by providing a time and place where the target is most likely to appear next.

Obvs the names of every Fallout 4 companion comes up, either their own name or someone related to them. They also get all the names related to F4's main and side quests (as well as some PoI characters like Shaw).

Technically there already is a threat predicting AI in Fallout 4 (Predictive Analytic Machine aka P.A.M.) which the Railroad can gain access to. It's purpose pre-War was to predict when the bombs were going to fall, but it's more like a complex algorithm that requires human input to operate-- whereas the Machine is a proper thinking AI that takes in it's own input via surveillance in order to make it's decisions.

I like the idea of Finch becoming aware of P.A.M.'s existence when the Railroad is suddenly out predicting the Machine, and though the Machine is ultimately capable of out thinking P.A.M., Finch ends up "crippling" the Machine in such a way that it can only out predict P.A.M. so much to allow the Railroad to continue evading the Institute.

Bear/Dogmeat

Instead of finding him at the Red Rocket gas station between Sanctuary and Concord, he's been confined to the life of a Gunners dog. When Reese sees him, he can tell he doesn't like his "owners" considering he's acting stressed and is kept on a leash unlike this gang of Gunners' other dogs. Reese also finds the name "Dogmeat" mean (like how he didn't like canon Bear's former name, Butcher) and that's why he renames him when he frees him from the Gunners.

Bear answers to both Bear and Dogmeat, but Reese is convinced he's happier when called by his new name.

Root

A Wastelander originally from the Texas area named Samantha Groves. When she was very young, her and her mom were picked up by Caesar's Legion and were stuck with them for a time, until a moment for escape opened up. Her mom urged her to run west towards NCR territory, which Root did and allowed her to be rescued by the Followers of the Apocalypse.

Under their care and tutelage, she proved herself naturally talented when it came to computers and started coming into her own as an impressive hacker. She befriended an older girl named Hanna who was also under the FoA's care, but sadly she was abducted and killed by an NCR officer, with Root the only witness.

No one believed her when she said what had happened to Hanna, leading to her taking matters into her own hands and luring a gang of Fiends into killing her friend's murderer before leaving.

For some time after, Root traversed the Wasteland, earning caps mostly by being a shadowy assassin who made use of hacking computers whenever they were available. The further east she traveled, the more she heard rumours about the Institute, peaking her curiosity and leading her to the Commonwealth. Where she eventually learns of the most incredible thing she's ever heard of: a miracle of a god-like Machine watching over everyone in the area...

S2-16 aka Shaw

An elite SRB Courser who was personally trained by Conrad Kellogg (for those who don't know Fallout 4, he's basically Hersh and provided the special combat training used by the Courser synths of the Institute. If Hersh were in this AU, he'd just replace Kellogg, but I've decided to keep Kellogg instead).

Like I said in my art post, her partner M4-39 becomes a bit too infatuated with the Railroad (whom they're supposed to be enemies with) and goes so far as to give himself the name Michael before trying to defect to them. He tries to convince S2-16 to go with him -- who he had started calling Shaw instead of her designation -- but he's ambushed and gunned down by X6-88. Shaw is considered also compromised just by having been his partner, even though she wasn't into the idea of joining the Railroad, but X6-88 doesn't believe her.

Just like in season 2 episode 16 (see where I got her designation from haha), while Reese and Finch are trying to help her out, Shaw gets captured by Root who's wanting more information on the Machine-- though in this AU she's wanting a way into the Institute so she can get at it directly. But the only known way in is via teleportation. Each Courser has a relay chip in their brain that allows them to be teleported back, which Root threatens to cut out of Shaw if she doesn't give her another way in. Shaw's freed before that can happen, but later agrees to Finch's proposition that she have her chip removed (in a safe manner) to prevent the SRB from tracking her down.

The job of a Courser, for those unaware, is to hunt down and bring back escaped synths. In order to ensure they follow through with their orders, they are installed with emotional dampening programming to prevent them from sympathizing with their targets. Although Dr. Amari is able to remove her relay chip, she's unable to remove this programming, leaving Shaw just like she is in canon: mostly devoid of emotion (besides rage).

Free of the Institute, she officially starts going by Shaw in honour of Michael and turns to focusing on tracking down Root (in a toxic yuri way).

Joss Carter and Lionel Fusco

Both were members of Diamond City Security until Carter's display of detective work during one case impressed the Great Green Jewel's only detective, Nick Valentine, so much that he offered her a job as his partner. Ever since, she's worked as a part of the Valentine Detective Agency alongside the old synth sleuth and his assistant, Ellie Perkins.

She's drawn into working with Reese and Finch after Valentine's name is given by the Machine when he's locked up by Skinny Malone in Vault 114.

Although Reese becomes known as "the Man in the Vault Suit," he also becomes a suspect in Valentine's ongoing Mysterious Stranger case, leaving Carter to try and keep him off Reese's trail.

Meanwhile, just like in canon, Fusco is stuck on the opposite side of things as he's a part of this AU's version of HR; a collection of corrupt DCS officers (which is most of them) who work back door deals with Gunners and Raiders for chems and caps, while pulling all sorts of strings in Mayor McDonough's favour.

He's dragged into Reese and Finch's operations when the Machine gives them Piper Wright's name, as HR is obvs not a fan of Diamond City's famous nosey reporter. With Fusco under Reese's thumb, he manages to get HR off her case as best as he can, but it's tricky work with Piper not being one to give up a story that easily, danger be dammed.

A Few PoI Baddies

Speaking of HR, Alonzo Quinn is still it's secret leader, being both an Upper Stands resident and Mayor McDonough's advisor. HR is ultimately in McDonough's pocket and takes a fair amount of commands from him, so long as Quinn agrees to them as well.

Patrick Simmons, HR's second in command, is the head of Diamond City Security instead of just being an officer.

Elias operates out of Goodneighbor and gradually takes control of most of it's gangs, including the Triggermen. He has a deal with Mayor Hancock that allows him to operate on the promise he won't pose a threat to Hancock's rule, though who knows how long that will last. I kinda want to make him a ghoul just for fun... that and/or go really wild and make him the son of Eddie Winters...... idk

Control would be the head of the SRB, potentially having replaced Zimmer after he went off to the Capital Wasteland.

Samaritan would be an Enclave creation, likely built from pieces of the Machine's own code that may have lingered after Nathan and Harold escaped.

Annnnnnnd that's basically the framework of what I've got!

[hikarry]

Okay children, gather around. It's "Spencer Complains and Acts a Little Mad" Time:

I have been raw dogging life for 1 month without my adhd/depression/anxiety/mood stabilizers medication and without a single Therapy appointment

I haven't left my house in 1 month, I haven't spoken to any of my (in person) friends in over 1 month, I haven't seen my family in 1 month, I haven't seen my bloody cat in over 1 month, I've barely left my bloody room in over 1 month, and I've been listening to my bloody voice almost every day for 1 hour so I can finish editing the bloody podcast for over a month

To top it all of: I haven't had a decent night's sleep in about 4 days now (in which I just don't sleep or I have extremely vivid nightmares with my departed mother and/or scenarios where I die over and over and over again but can't speak to ask for help before it happens - fun for all the family, if you ask me) and I might or might not be completely and absolutely going insane, with only Good Omens season 1 (6/6) and season 2 (5/6) and the existence of Crowley/red haired Fire Pokemon David Tennant Edition being my sole producer of any amount of serotonin

How am I alive? Good question. Beautiful genderfluid demonic content can be some very nice very distracting content for individuals that simp for Fire Type David Tennant Pokemon like myself

I am quite sure my only contact with anything mental health related in the past weeks has been my best friend whom is very very annoying and refuses to leave me the heck alone and whom is a nurse and is working extra time to advice my stupid ass the best she can, bless her heart

So, with my personal nurse's permission, I have doubled my sleeping medication for the night and, as Fall Out Boy once wrote for the song "Alone Together" in one of my favorite albums to have ever been created "Save Rock and Roll": I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead