#AI and retirement planning

[mostlysignssomeportents]

What the fuck is a PBM?

TOMORROW (Sept 24), I'll be speaking IN PERSON at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY!

Terminal-stage capitalism owes its long senescence to its many defensive mechanisms, and it's only by defeating these that we can put it out of its misery. "The Shield of Boringness" is one of the necrocapitalist's most effective defenses, so it behooves us to attack it head-on.

The Shield of Boringness is Dana Claire's extremely useful term for anything so dull that you simply can't hold any conception of it in your mind for any length of time. In the finance sector, they call this "MEGO," which stands for "My Eyes Glaze Over," a term of art for financial arrangements made so performatively complex that only the most exquisitely melted brain-geniuses can hope to unravel their spaghetti logic. The rest of us are meant to simply heft those thick, dense prospectuses in two hands, shrug, and assume, "a pile of shit this big must have a pony under it."

MEGO and its Shield of Boringness are key to all of terminal-stage capitalism's stupidest scams. Cloaking obvious swindles in a lot of complex language and Byzantine payment schemes can make them seem respectable just long enough for the scammers to relieve you of all your inconvenient cash and assets, though, eventually, you're bound to notice that something is missing.

If you spent the years leading up to the Great Financial Crisis baffled by "CDOs," "synthetic CDOs," "ARMs" and other swindler nonsense, you experienced the Shield of Boringness. If you bet your house and/or your retirement savings on these things, you experienced MEGO. If, after the bubble popped, you finally came to understand that these "exotic financial instruments" were just scams, you experienced Stein's Law ("anything that can't go forever eventually stops"). If today you no longer remember what a CDO is, you are once again experiencing the Shield of Boringness.

As bad as 2008 was, it wasn't even close to the end of terminal stage capitalism. The market has soldiered on, with complex swindles like carbon offset trading, metaverse, cryptocurrency, financialized solar installation, and (of course) AI. In addition to these new swindles, we're still playing the hits, finding new ways to make the worst scams of the 2000s even worse.

That brings me to the American health industry, and the absurdly complex, ridiculously corrupt Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), a pathology that has only metastasized since 2008.

On at least 20 separate occasions, I have taken it upon myself to figure out how the PBM swindle works, and nevertheless, every time they come up, I have to go back and figure it out again, because PBMs have the most powerful Shield of Boringness out of the whole Monster Manual of terminal-stage capitalism's trash mobs.

PBMs are back in the news because the FTC is now suing the largest of these for their role in ripping off diabetics with sky-high insulin prices. This has kicked off a fresh round of "what the fuck is a PBM, anyway?" explainers of extremely variable quality. Unsurprisingly, the best of these comes from Matt Stoller:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-round-up-lina-khan-pharma

Stoller starts by pointing out that Americans have a proud tradition of getting phucked by pharma companies. As far back as the 1950s, Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver was holding hearings on the scams that pharma companies were using to ensure that Americans paid more for their pills than virtually anyone else in the world.

But since the 2010s, Americans have found themselves paying eye-popping, sky-high, ridiculous drug prices. Eli Lilly's Humolog insulin sold for $21 in 1999; by 2017, the price was $274 – a 1,200% increase! This isn't your grampa's price gouging!

Where do these absurd prices come from? The story starts in the 2000s, when the GW Bush administration encouraged health insurers to create "high deductible" plans, where patients were expected to pay out of pocket for receiving care, until they hit a multi-thousand-dollar threshold, and then their insurance would kick in. Along with "co-pays" and other junk fees, these deductibles were called "cost sharing," and they were sold as a way to prevent the "abuse" of the health care system.

The economists who crafted terminal-stage capitalism's intellectual rationalizations claimed the reason Americans paid so much more for health care than their socialized-medicine using cousins in the rest of the world had nothing to do with the fact that America treats health as a source of profits, while the rest of the world treats health as a human right.

No, the actual root of America's health industry's problems was the moral defects of Americans. Because insured Americans could just go see the doctor whenever they felt like it, they had no incentive to minimize their use of the system. Any time one of these unhinged hypochondriacs got a little sniffle, they could treat themselves to a doctor's visit, enjoying those waiting-room magazines and the pleasure of arranging a sick day with HR, without bearing any of the true costs:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/27/the-doctrine-of-moral-hazard/

"Cost sharing" was supposed to create "skin in the game" for every insured American, creating a little pain-point that stung you every time you thought about treating yourself to a luxurious doctor's visit. Now, these payments bit hardest on the poorest workers, because if you're making minimum wage, at $10 co-pay hurts a lot more than it does if you're making six figures. What's more, VPs and the C-suite were offered "gold-plated" plans with low/no deductibles or co-pays, because executives understand the value of a dollar in the way that mere working slobs can't ever hope to comprehend. They can be trusted to only use the doctor when it's truly warranted.

So now you have these high-deductible plans creeping into every workplace. Then along comes Obama and the Affordable Care Act, a compromise that maintains health care as a for-profit enterprise (still not a human right!) but seeks to create universal coverage by requiring every American to buy a plan, requiring insurers to offer plans to every American, and uses public money to subsidize the for-profit health industry to glue it together.

Predictably, the cheapest insurance offered on the Obamacare exchanges – and ultimately, by employers – had sky-high deductibles and co-pays. That way, insurers could pocket a fat public subsidy, offer an "insurance" plan that was cheap enough for even the most marginally employed people to afford, but still offer no coverage until their customers had spent thousands of dollars out-of-pocket in a given year.

That's the background: GWB created high-deductible plans, Obama supercharged them. Keep that in your mind as we go through the MEGO procedures of the PBM sector.

Your insurer has a list of drugs they'll cover, called the "formulary." The formulary also specifies how much the insurance company is willing to pay your pharmacist for these drugs. Creating the formulary and paying pharmacies for dispensing drugs is a lot of tedious work, and insurance outsources this to third parties, called – wait for it – Pharmacy Benefits Managers.

The prices in the formulary the PBM prepares for your insurance company are called the "list prices." These are meant to represent the "sticker price" of the drug, what a pharmacist would charge you if you wandered in off the street with no insurance, but somehow in possession of a valid prescription.

But, as Stoller writes, these "list prices" aren't actually ever charged to anyone. The list price is like the "full price" on the pricetags at a discount furniture place where everything is always "on sale" at 50% off – and whose semi-disposable sofas and balsa-wood dining room chairs are never actually sold at full price.

One theoretical advantage of a PBM is that it can get lower prices because it bargains for all the people in a given insurer's plan. If you're the pharma giant Sanofi and you want your Lantus insulin to be available to any of the people who must use OptumRX's formulary, you have to convince OptumRX to include you in that formulary.

OptumRX – like all PBMs – demands "rebates" from pharma companies if they want to be included in the formulary. On its face, this is similar to the practices of, say, NICE – the UK agency that bargains for medicine on behalf of the NHS, which also bargains with pharma companies for access to everyone in the UK and gets very good deals as a result.

But OptumRX doesn't bargain for a lower list price. They bargain for a bigger rebate. That means that the "price" is still very high, but OptumRX ends up paying a tiny fraction of it, thanks to that rebate. In the OptumRX formulary, Lantus insulin lists for $403. But Sanofi, who make Lantus, rebate $339 of that to OptumRX, leaving just $64 for Lantus.

Here's where the scam hits. Your insurer charges you a deductible based on the list price – $404 – not on the $64 that OptumRX actually pays for your insulin. If you're in a high-deductible plan and you haven't met your cap yet, you're going to pay $404 for your insulin, even though the actual price for it is $64.

Now, you'd think that your insurer would put a stop to this. They chose the PBM, the PBM is ripping off their customers, so it's their job to smack the PBM around and make it cut this shit out. So why would the insurers tolerate this nonsense?

Here's why: the PBMs are divisions of the big health insurance companies. Unitedhealth owns OptumRx; Aetna owns Caremark, and Cigna owns Expressscripts. So it's not the PBM that's ripping you off, it's your own insurance company. They're not just making you pay for drugs that you're supposedly covered for – they're pocketing the deductible you pay for those drugs.

Now, there's one more entity with power over the PBM that you'd hope would step in on your behalf: your boss. After all, your employer is the entity that actually chooses the insurer and negotiates with them on your behalf. Your boss is in the driver's seat; you're just along for the ride.

It would be pretty funny if the answer to this was that the health insurance company bought your employer, too, and so your boss, the PBM and the insurer were all the same guy, busily swapping hats, paying for a call center full of tormented drones who each have three phones on their desks: one labeled "insurer"; the second, "PBM" and the final one "HR."

But no, the insurers haven't bought out the company you work for (yet). Rather, they've bought off your boss – they're sharing kickbacks with your employer for all the deductibles and co-pays you're being suckered into paying. There's so much money (your money) sloshing around in the PBM scamoverse that anytime someone might get in the way of you being ripped off, they just get cut in for a share of the loot.

That is how the PBM scam works: they're fronts for health insurers who exploit the existence of high-deductible plans in order to get huge kickbacks from pharma makers, and massive fees from you. They split the loot with your boss, whose payout goes up when you get screwed harder.

But wait, there's more! After all, Big Pharma isn't some kind of easily pushed-around weakling. They're big. Why don't they push back against these massive rebates? Because they can afford to pay bribes and smaller companies making cheaper drugs can't. Whether it's a little biotech upstart with a cheaper molecule, or a generics maker who's producing drugs at a fraction of the list price, they just don't have the giant cash reserves it takes to buy their way into the PBMs' formularies. Doubtless, the Big Pharma companies would prefer to pay smaller kickbacks, but from Big Pharma's perspective, the optimum amount of bribes extracted by a PBM isn't zero – far from it. For Big Pharma, the optimal number is one cent higher than "the maximum amount of bribes that a smaller company can afford."

The purpose of a system is what it does. The PBM system makes sure that Americans only have access to the most expensive drugs, and that they pay the highest possible prices for them, and this enriches both insurance companies and employers, while protecting the Big Pharma cartel from upstarts.

Which is why the FTC is suing the PBMs for price-fixing. As Stoller points out, they're using their powers under Section 5 of the FTC Act here, which allows them to shut down "unfair methods of competition":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

The case will be adjudicated by an administrative law judge, in a process that's much faster than a federal court case. Once the FTC proves that the PBM scam is illegal when applied to insulin, they'll have a much easier time attacking the scam when it comes to every other drug (the insulin scam has just about run its course, with federally mandated $35 insulin coming online, just as a generation of post-insulin diabetes treatments hit the market).

Obviously the PBMs aren't taking this lying down. Cigna/Expressscripts has actually sued the FTC for libel over the market study it conducted, in which the agency described in pitiless, factual detail how Cigna was ripping us all off. The case is being fought by a low-level Reagan-era monster named Rick Rule, whom Stoller characterizes as a guy who "hangs around in bars and picks up lonely multi-national corporations" (!!).

The libel claim is a nonstarter, but it's still wild. It's like one of those movies where they want to show you how bad the cockroaches are, so there's a bit where the exterminator shows up and the roaches form a chorus line and do a kind of Busby Berkeley number:

https://www.46brooklyn.com/news/2024-09-20-the-carlton-report

So here we are: the FTC has set out to euthanize some rentiers, ridding the world of a layer of useless economic middlemen whose sole reason for existing is to make pharmaceuticals as expensive as possible, by colluding with the pharma cartel, the insurance cartel and your boss. This conspiracy exists in plain sight, hidden by the Shield of Boringness. If I've done my job, you now understand how this MEGO scam works – and if you forget all that ten minutes later (as is likely, given the nature of MEGO), that's OK: just remember that this thing is a giant fucking scam, and if you ever need to refresh yourself on the details, you can always re-read this post.

The paperback edition of The Lost Cause, my nationally bestselling, hopeful solarpunk novel is out this month!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/23/shield-of-boringness/#some-men-rob-you-with-a-fountain-pen

Image: Flying Logos (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_$1,000,000_dollars_in_USD_$100_bill_stacks.png

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[orteil42]

anyway my prediction is that as AI becomes more integrated as an assistant to human conversation and creative/logical thinking some people will keep leaning into it until they end up as mostly just the half-conscious meat parts the AI happens to speak through. if all else falls through i'm counting on this as my retirement plan

[lokideservesahug]

Masterlist

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Please do not repost, translate, plagarize or put any of my writing into any ai system without permission.

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Multiple Drivers

•F1 Fantasy Au

Coming soon...

Logan Sargeant²

•For How Long!?! - Series

You and Logan have been together for years... Not that anyone knows that of course! But what happens after your sudden promotion to F1?

•Love in 3D- Prelude, Full fic - Part of this Mall au collab

You were never a massive cinephile but when the cute worker asked you if you’d like to buy a membership card, you didn’t hesitate in saying yes. now, you have to return at least twice a week, just to get your money’s worth. which has totally nothing to do with the hot blond working the slushy machine and the way his arms look in the branded uniform polo.

Charles Leclerc¹⁶

•He Set Her off - One Shot

You have to react when you find your boyfriend in bed with another woman... No one can blame you if your reaction is less than legal though!

•Always that good? - One Shot

You've been best friends with Arthur for over a year now... so why does his brother look so good?

•Always With Me - Drabbleish

Your boyfriend is famous for his jewellery. But you can't help but pay special attention to his newst additions.

•Blissfully Unaware - Yandere + Carlos

It's completely normal to have a small crus on one of your coworkers. Two? Meh it happens. But what happens when you end up sleeping in the same room due to their meticulous planning chance? Well, one can only guess...

• Bordering Professional- drabble

The whole paddock is obsessed with Y/N Ferrari. The gorgeous genius that is one day expected tp take over Ferrari. But you're too professional and refuse to blur the lines for anyone... Well anyone except Charles Leclerc

Carlos Sainz⁵⁵

•He Set Her off - One Shot

You have to react when you find your boyfriend in bed with another woman... No one can blame you if your reaction is less than legal though!

•Little Miss Ferrari - One Shot

It's that infamous time of year when Y/N (A.K.A Little Miss Ferrari) visits Imola but what will this year bring?

•Blissfully Unaware - Yandere + Charles

It's completely normal to have a small crus on one of your coworkers. Two? Meh it happens. But what happens when you end up sleeping in the same room due to their meticulous planning chance? Well, one can only guess...

Lando Norris⁴

•Chasing - Trilogy

Standing in for Checo after he falls ill, you have everyone's eyes on you; especially a certain orange dressed Brit's...

Lewis Hamilton⁴⁴

•Perfect pair - One Shot

When your greatest fan and a fan of a race car driver to almost force you to go on a date with said F1 driver, you find that man on a dating app. It can't hurt that talk to him; especially when he's so gorgeous.

Sergio 'Checo' Pérez¹¹

•The Wrong One... - One Shot

Y/N Y/L/N visits the red bull garage and everyone thinks she's with a Red Bull driver... except they all guess the wrong one.

•Thirsty - One Shot

Summary: After a certain tweet subtly dissing Charles and Oscar, more people come to appreciate Sergio Pérez and especially his neck.

• Against All Odds - One Shot

What happens after a driver crashes? They retire right? Well a certain Mexican driver may have a different agenda to the average pilot...

• Obsessed In Love Part II

Summary: You were very happy with your job- personal assistant for Sergio Pérez. Yet unbeknownst to you, being Checo's personal assistant isn't enough for him.

•Worthy- One Shot

The second Red Bull seat had been a hot topic of conversation for "Silly Season" but when Checo resigns, what do the public think? Or more importantly what does Checo think to the response?

Mark Webber

•Acceptable "Infidelity" - One Shot

The 2024 Australian GP, the day of an incredible race, insane results and Mark Webber cheating on his wife?

•Something Sweet - One Shot

Mark Webber looks like he should have a sugar baby attached to his side, so why doesn't he?

•Happy "Family"- One Shot

How do the Webber family react to their favourite adopted member's shenanigans in Monaco? Well let's see...

•A Red Bull Reunion- One Shot

Webber and Y/L/N arguably one of the most iconic pinicles of red bull racing in the early 2010s. When later of the two finally makes an appearance at Goodwood, many fans question is she'll also attend the Hungarian Grand Prix...

•A Taste Of Victory

Y/N Y/L/N, the newest 2009 rookie who's also...a woman? The media are desperate to pick her apart and see how well she'll do so let's have a look:

Nico Rosberg

•Did She? - One Shot

The mid 2010s were the golden years for Mercedes and all of the team. Especially Hamilton, Rosberg and lead strategist Y/L/N. But how does that dynamic hold up in the present day?

Mick Schumacher

•Bound to falling in love - One Shot

Mick Schumacher has been extremelyprivate with how soulmark his whole life. But what happens when the interest does ehat its best at, snooping. Well Mick Schumacher might just finally meet the celebrity that he doesn't at all have a tiny crush on...

George Russell⁶³

•Biggest Patriot - One Shot

The 4th of July, one if the biggest days in America. But this year it falls on one of the biggest days for the English (in the form of the Silverstone GP). So the big question is, when George Russell, the most British man ever has his home race; where will his girlfriend, the most American woman ever be?

Max Verstappen¹

•Leave a light on- One shot

Being kept to your own thoughts is dangerous. Especially with how negative they currently are. However Max is amazing at putting a stop to both those thoughts and your unhappiness all together.

Jenson Button²²

•A Taste Of Victory implied JB or MW x reader

Y/N Y/L/N, the newest 2009 rookie who's also...a woman? The media are desperate to pick her apart and see how well she'll do so let's have a look:

[Miscellaneous]

•Much Needed Comfort - Ayao Komatsu

The Haas/Checo crash in Monaco '24 was a nightmare. But what about the effects on Haas' team principal... Well let's look how he dealt with the stress.

•Engineered Success- Peter Bonnington

The Silverstone GP is a great day for many. Especially Lewis Hamilton and those around him. Such as his race engineer and said race engineer's partner.

•An Unexpected Crossover- Carlos Alcaraz

Y/N Y/L/N, the only rookie in Formula 1's 2024 season. But many people get excited at her attending Wimbledon especially after some old interviews resurface...

[moderator-monnie]

Before The Ritual (A COTH Story)

Dr. Ivo Robotnik, otherwise known as Dr. Eggman, was currently sitting in his lab, infuriated as always. He threw some papers off his desk and sighed heavily.

One hand was on his chin, and the other was tapping against his table, mumbling some things to himself quietly.

"Drat that damn hedgehog... Always getting in the way of my plans, he is truly a worthy adversary, but if I want to get rid of him for good, I need the ultimate plan! What haven't I tried? What could I use? Now that is the question at the end of the day."

"Perhaps a doomsday device? Hmm, not too predictable. Maybe I could touch upon the metal virus in a new light? ... No. Not too dangerous. I made some mistakes with that attempt. I didn't even think about my own safety."

"Maybe upgrade Metal Sonic or bring Tails Doll and Mecha Knuckles out of retirement? Could I even make some robot copies of the rats' other friends? That lemur would make an interesting machine. NO NO, none of these plans work!"

He soon laid back in his chair, rubbing his temples. He didn't want to work himself, but Sonic was a powerful foe and quite intelligent too, even if Eggman wouldn't admit it out loud.

"Just what can I do? What would really wow him? WHAT CAN BEAT HIM FOR GOOD? THERE MUST BE SOMETHING I'VE MISSED, IN MY RESEARCH OF MOBIUS!!! AN ULTIMATE WEAKNESS!"

Suddenly, a red light flashed in the room, and Sage appeared, sitting on his work bench, kicking her legs before clearing her throat with a gentle smile and a wave and speaking. "Hello Father, I see you are stressed over finding a way to, and I quote, 'crush that blasted hedgehog' may I offer my assistance?"

Eggman sat up in his chair, letting out a hearty chuckle before looking at his AI daughter. He took her words carefully and rubbed his chin before responding. "Ah, hello, Sage. Hello, it's nice to see you. You know what? You might just be what I need; a fresh eye on things would definitely help me figure out exactly what I need to defeat Sonic once and for all."

Eggman put his hands together, striking a pose. "You have access to my data banks along with the internet, correct?"

Sage nodded softly. She then teleported away, inserting herself into the main computer and combing through it rather quickly.

A sudden dinging noise was heard, and Eggman could see some files being downloaded, but he allowed time for Sage to explain what they were for.

"Father, I have discovered something you may have overlooked. You are aware of Grandfather Gerald Robotnik's research into the gods of Mobius and of humanity, correct?"

Eggman's eyebrows rose, wondering where his daughter was going with this, but he was quite curious as well. "Why, yes, Sage, I'm aware of all this; why did you bring it up? I've tried using god-like creatures against Sonic before, like with Dark Gaia and Chaos."

Sage soon pulled up some semi-corrupted files she had dug up. She is in the deepest parts of the internet, and Eggman's own files are on the main computer screen.

"Well, Father, you may have overlooked something. Its origins are not exactly clear. It's commonly unknown if humanity or Mobians discovered this entity, but unlike many other gods of Mobius and Earth, this one has not only been proven to exist to some extent."

"This God, or rather god-like entity, can control dreams themselves and is not physical, at least not without a host body to call its own; it has the ability to interact with solid objects, but with a host body, epically one with a high enough chaos energy.

And given enough time. This entity could possibly even put all of Mobius into a slumber of its own control, one they can't wake up from without its consent."

Eggman began to smirk very widely as he got up out of his chair and looked at the screen widely, seeing all the files Sage showed him.

"What a very interesting find, Sage! I'm very proud of you, but what makes you think we can control it and have it help us get rid of Sonic?"

Sage blushed. She had stars in her eyes for a moment; she was always happy to have her father be proud of her, but she soon cleared her throat and continued.

"Ahem, ah, right, you are father. The reason why I believe this entity would help us is due to its documented nature. It has been shown in the past to love pure chaos, and what would be more chaotic than helping you take over the world?

"Sonic would have no way to stop it either, due to it being far more powerful than him. And Sonic can't simply attack something while he's asleep now, can he, Father?"

He nodded along, listening closely before using a virtual glove he made to be able to pat Sage on the head softly, and then sat back down, carefully reading all the information Sage had brought up.

"Correct, you are Sage; that hedgehog would stand no chance of something he can't even interact with. I shall begin preparations. I see this 'god' has some ties to the chaos emeralds. 

So perhaps I can build a new robot, one that can harness chaos energy without directly needing the emerald, in order to create the perfect host for our friend to take possession of, and with us working together, friends can finally win! I'll need to be careful though and build in some safety features so I can control the robot once our friend takes it's new body."

"Though I shouldn't make the controls too obvious, otherwise strike this 'god's ire."

With a few clicks on the screen, a few images and historical documents showed up, revealing something quite interesting to the doctor himself.

A strange golden arch was under the site where Angel Island once stood, back when it was just a normal land mass.

"How in sweet mother Gaia did I ever miss such a thing during my many trips to Angel Island?"

He zoomed in on the photos, inspecting them closely, and wrote a few things down on his notepad. Not much information seems to be known about this historical sight, but a few tablets were recovered from the sight itself, written in a language similar to the ancients themselves but different.

All Eggman could gather from the rough translations he could figure out was one word: 'Zepperaith'. He would need to travel to the historical site, inspect this golden arch up close, and figure out its secrets.

"Zepperaith... I will unleash you upon this land, and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG WILL BE GONE FOREVER!"

Dr. Eggman began to laugh loudly, with Sage joining him quietly, with a new plan in mind. Perhaps this will be Sonic's downfall once and for all.

[mossy123302]

More rambles about KinitoPET AU

Kristin

She's the developer of Philza. Kristin was honestly highly recognized among the horror indie game communities. She helps a lot of other developers with the programming.

Until one day, she decided to give it a shot by creating her own stuff that strayed from horror indie games. She created Philza, whom she wanted to help her and others to organize better, program easily and various things. However, it seems the programming went wrong somehow?

Who knows, since one day, after she messaged one of her close friends that she had completed the main stuff. Kristin just suddenly vanished and all that remains is a software of the Angel of Death.

Philza

Ah yes, our beloved crow father, Kristin's greatest achievement of helping other people in her community to better help with programming and just easing burden loads.

Kind, caring and a little blind sided at times!

He strives to make everything perfect for you, ensure you're always happy and well taken care of!

Philza is proud to announce his own small inventions, such as his pride and joys; Techno and Tommy! Philza's two sons.

And not to mention, Philza has been developing his own mini games for many people to enjoy and play if they want to learn more about his backstory and how he found his two sons. Oh, it's such a beautiful story for Philza to retell over and over again, they were such a fuss in the beginning and now they're such well behaved boys and create endless fun and share new ideas for him to bring more fun and entertainment for his newest friend, Missa!

It's unclear what was the inspiration for Philza.

Many people say that Kristin has created Philza based on a long lost lover, or maybe a deceased sweetheart or something else entirely. It's unclear what was the real purpose behind Philza's many programming and how he gains so much control over the simplest of technology. He's so highly famous and used that many people reports having dreams of him!

Awe shucks mate, you're going to make Philza blush with all those flattery and words of him in your dreams.

Mmm? What do you mean Philza was there in your room?

Don't be silly, Philza is an AI assistant in your computer! He doesn't have a human body (maybe he does, it has been so long... It's been rotting for so long. )

Ask him about Kristin? Why Philza can talk endlessly about his creator! She was the one that brought him to life after all. No worries, Kristin will always live on! She is never forgotten

Missa

A college student, whose tired and stressed by all the academic pressure and not only that, his former roommate Spreen has suddenly went missing. To add more pressure, Roier and Missa got into a fight and went no contact with each other for a while. Luckily, he found Philza and doesn't feel as lonely anymore even if he's been.. having suspicious and strange dreams about him.

It's probably because Missa hasn't been out as much and talked with people like a regular human being should. (But he doesn't need anyone else but me-)

Techno and Tommy

Ah, the two sons of the Angel of Death; Philza! Techno is the eldest son, with a quiet yet burning heart personality. He only seeks to have a peaceful day, and spend his retirement in his new house

Tommy, on the other hand, seeks adventure and more activities to do. He deeply loves his brother, Techno, but finds his ideal plan of retirement too boring so he drags Missa around the digital world to find different entertainments like building new toys or doing crochets!

Hmm... How strange that Tommy and Techno seemingly try to warn Missa the most about trying to go back and redo certain tasks again. As if trying to stall time...hmmm.

[mi-i-zori]

Mii’s Thoughts - Ghost - 1

CoD - Ghost x GN!Reader

SYNOPSIS : Just a thought about the Ghost Distribution System.

WARNINGS : None.

Author’s Note : I know I might be late to the party, but I felt the need to share this after reading so many good stuff about this topic. I think this was @ghouljams ‘ idea ?

I do not give permission to re-publish and/or translate my work, be it here or any other platform, including AI.

What if, after meeting his darling, Ghost suddenly decided to give up on his military life ?

What if his thoughts were constantly circling back to the angel he met not so long ago, their halo illuminating his never-ending darkness with the warmth of a campfire into the night, drawing him to them in the hopes of finally getting rid of the cold plaguing his existence ? What if it distracted him enough lead him to be more and more careless on the battlefield, igniting worry in their eyes every time he came back ; and he couldn’t forgive himself for it ? What if he finally decided to get away from all the violence and gore he once thought he was meant to live for after getting reprimanded over and over, realising that he does not belong on the front lines anymore ?

His angel is waiting for him at home - or is he waiting to got back to them ? He doesn’t really care anymore, for he knows he has to return to them. His hands are covered in a layer of rusty blood, the kind he will never be able to fully get rid of, and he is far from being worthy of tainting them even through the faintest touch.

Yet he is meant to kneel at their feet, kiss the hem of their clothes and savour the sound of their voice. Each second he spends in a military base increases the risk of losing them - of losing his everything all over again.

And this is not something he can afford.

He is a heathen, that he knows. Yet he’s finally found his purpose through the eyes of a being unaware of their own divinity. And he shall spend the rest of his life giving his entire self away worshiping their every breath.

So what if he came home one day, once again lingering on their doorstep like a stray dog seeking shelter from the rain, waiting for them to answer their door to announce he is finally retiring - slotting himself in their life for good ? He probably doesn’t have a backup plan, and completely forgot how to function properly in a world he spent so many years away from. But he found a light to follow in the middle of the night, a pillar to cling to amongst the never-ending storm.

Isn’t that all he needs to survive ?

[idontknowreallywhy]

75 - Part 2

Next part of this Scott’s-75th Birthday-Romantic-Fluff-Fest

If you are likely to be offended by the thought of old people still getting up to implied romantic mischief, maybe back away slowly 😆

💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

Brains’ jaw had dropped, cartoon-like, when Scott had suggested One could be modded to include a permanent co-pilot seat. It had made logical sense though - as they expanded the rosta and needed to train the new recruits - it wasn’t ideal for the second to be confined to the jump seat with very little view of what was going on or ability to take over if things went south.

It was all about the quality of the trainee experience and not in any way about what the instructor had access to once the trainee got into the hot seat…

Alan had requested an anti-backseat-driver protocol to disable the co-pilot controls by default.

Scott had overruled him.

In fairness he was a decent teacher, especially when it came to all things airborne. He’d discovered a level of calm, of patience that didn’t seem to feature highly in any other area of his life. And, initial nervousness aside, his pupils seemed to enjoy the process of being taught which must be a good measure. The back seat driving thing? That was strictly reserved for when a brother was sat in front. He had never quite forgotten the pole cat incident after all. Nor had he quite forgiven his youngest brother for turning out to be a more instinctive pilot…

But he behaved himself impeccably with the younger end of the family and the other trainees.

He’d got a real thrill every time he watched one of them cross the threshold between Knowing-how and Feeling-how to fly Thunderbird One. She’d never been a Read-the-Manual kind of a ship which was why John and Virgil hated flying her. Some of the recruits, while achieving a level of competence, agreed very quickly with his brothers. But others, his eldest in particular, had Understood and he had glowed with pride as first One and then Eleven became almost an extension of her very limbs.

There was only one person he’d taught to fly by actually sharing the pilot seat, however. It maybe hadn’t been the most efficient series of lessons… he’d had to sneak into the file storage and edit a few of the security videos… before EOS caught him. Once he explained that certain certain others might be embarrassed to happen across the footage she’d at once offered to automatically cease recording and patch in a loop whenever the two of them embarked on a non-mission flight. Next to his wife, the AI had long been Scott’s staunchest conspirator.

As the years went on and the mission workload was shared between more people and then more ships, the chances to escape on those non-mission flights increased.

Scott had always loved to watch the sunrise. His wife… well she had needed persuading as to the merits of losing that extra couple of hours in bed. And when Scott Tracy needed to argue his case, he did it in style.

And thus was born their secret hobby of chasing down the best of the best. He’d started with Wainui Beach, naturally… then Uluru was also pretty much in their backyard. Of course having an aircraft that kind of permitted time travel over long distances helped, with the added benefit that if SOMEONE slept in too long to catch the one they’d planned, they could find another by chasing the horizon just a little further back. They’d covered the top 50 rated sunrises on the planet within a couple of years, then started hunting down the viewpoints nobody else knew about - the ones that were best viewed from a little higher than the average punter could climb...

It had also been a good excuse for his wife to peel him off the island when the Retired Commander’s tendency to back-seat-drive rescues caused… friction… with IR’s Actual Commander. Scott knew precisely what mother and daughter were up to but enjoyed their expeditions so much he never quite got around to objecting very strongly.

“Where to M’lady?”

She looked at her watch and did some mental calculation before frowning a little. Scott found himself distracted by wanting to run a fingertip over one of her silvery eyebrows and almost missed her answer.

“Hmmm, well given the date I was going to suggest Kala Patthar… but we took a little longer getting down here than I realised.”

Scott eyed his watch.

“What time do we need to be there?”

“Five thirty-seven.”

“And six and a quarter hours back… it’s not quite ten yet, we’ve got time?”

“Not at Mach 5, we’ll just miss it. No worries we can pick another site further… oh don’t make that face, Mr Tracy, you know the rules.”

“Oh come oooon… it’s my birthday! We can nudge the ceiling up just a teeny tiny little bitty bit?” He carefully adjusted his facial expression from petulant to puppy dog and, predictably, her expression softened just a fraction at the edges. He stepped it up with a little flicker of the eyelashes and, with only long experience and the faintest twitch of an eyebrow as warning, he ducked the cuff around the head she aimed at him.

“You’re irascible.”

“You love it.” He pulled her close and kissed her passionately. She sighed in mock defeat and patted his cheek.

“Hmmmmmm. Alright. Not above seven, though, or I’ll set the Tank on you.”

Scott punched the air in triumph and she burst into laughter. With a quick fist-bump to One’s landing strut and a cheerful “See you in a minute, Gorgeous” he grabbed his wife’s hand and towed her towards the pilot lift, the two of them giggling like a couple of teenagers.

[thesilliestrovingalive]

Updated: September 28, 2024

Reworked Character #1: Marco Rossi

POTENTIAL TRIGGER: Viewer discretion is advised due to references to neglect, self-harm, SA, death, and torture.

Real name: Marchrius Dennis Rossi

Alias: Intelligent Soldier

Occupation: Major of the P.F. Squad

Retirement plans: Foster a bunch of kittens and start a computer company that designs and develops functional computer models, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity programs for both military and civilian usage

Special skills: Leadership, proficiency in lightweight firearms, computer science, intimidation tactics, and drunken-style boxing

Hobbies: Creating artificial intelligence and technological viruses from scratch, calculating complex mathematical equations and running times of computer programs in his head, taking naps at his desk, completing crossword puzzles, and stargazing

Likes: Cat cafes, his quick mental calculation, the warm glow of campfires, going on smoke breaks with Tarma, Eri, and Tequila, and subway rides where there are little to no people around him

Dislikes: Large lines in front of restaurants, being wrongfully distracted from work, spending vast quantities of time away from Perifa, computer crashes paired with slow Internet, and torture

Favourite food: Chinese noodles (preferably its mildly spicy) and barbecued burgers and hotdogs with onions and honey-flavoured carrots

Sexuality: Sex-repulsed, aromantic asexual

Gender: Male

Age: 17 (in 2022), 23 (in 2028), 25 (in 2030), 27 (in 2032), 29 (in 2034), 36 (in 2041), 38 (in 2043), 39 (in 2044), and 42 (in 2047)

Blood type: A-

Weight: 162 lbs. (73.48 cm)

Design: He's a 5' 7" (170.18 cm) Italian-American ectomorph with average musculature, broad shoulders, ivory skin, a cleft chin, and dull turquoise eyes. Marco has wavy strawberry blonde hair with a large forelock, sideburns, a chinstrap beard, and a left glass eye that's a lighter shade of turquoise. He has accumulated several battle scars: a few stab wounds on his right shoulder; vertical cuts on his chest; a deep slice mark extending from the left side of his nose bridge to the back of his trapezius muscle; multiple lacerations and severe burns on his back; a large patch of scar tissue on his right lumbar region; and bullet wounds on both calves and one on his left thigh. To cope with his emotional pain, he has a history of self-harm, which has resulted in the horizontal scars visible on his right forearm, hips, and inner thighs.

He's well-known for his cutting-edge, cybernetic left arm crafted from sleek, high-strength metallic alloys and advanced, artificially intelligent flexi-circuits, allowing for enhanced strength, agility, dexterity, and precision. It also has micro-sensors and neural interfaces seamlessly integrating with Marco’s nervous system for intuitive control. It possesses a high-strength, serrated blade made of tungsten, capable of extending up to 12 inches (30.48 cm) from the forearm. It can temporarily deploy an energy shield that surrounds him, providing protection from incoming attacks. This shield is powered by advanced capacitors and optimised for maximum efficiency using AI technology.

Marco's military gear consists of a white headband, a metal dog tag necklace with his name, a platinum grey sleeveless shirt, a crimson vest with four pockets, and khaki-green army cargo pants tucked into his combat boots. He also wears olive green paratrooper boots, a leather belt, mahogany gloves, a sheath for his combat knife, and a gun holster for his trusty handgun. His vest features two hidden strapped compartments, capable of holding up to two firearms, and boasts an embroidered logo of the P.F. Squad on the back. The pockets of Marco's army cargo pants carry two boxes of cigars, while his vest contains a gilded lighter he found in Gerhardt City, a black case for his garnet-hued reading glasses, and an old photograph of pre-teen him, his father, and his childhood cat.

Over his shirt, he wears a Soldier Plate Carrier System (SPCS) with a MultiCam pattern, which carries his walkie-talkie and ammo for other firearms. His right forearm is wrapped in worn gauze, and he wears two black bandoliers that form an X-shape, holding bullets for his handgun. Marco carries a khaki-green load-bearing backpack containing camping equipment, tactical explosives, portable ammo boxes, a canteen full of water, a Gatling shot, and a thunder shot. He's always carrying around a red-orange laptop, used to create viruses to breach enemy cybersecurity, other technological assignments for the military, and personal computer software projects.

Personality: He's a charismatic and cautious leader who takes immense pride in his high intellect, computer expertise, and masculinity. He's a self-reliant introvert who prefers to accept help and emotional support from others when absolutely necessary. His stoic demeanour is a constant, making it challenging for him to show humour or vulnerability. Due to being a workaholic, he has developed a harmful habit of neglecting his own basic needs, including eating when necessary. He mainly struggles with loneliness because he finds it difficult to form meaningful connections due to his exceptionally high intellect, which can make it challenging for others who may not be able to keep up with his level of understanding. He also struggles with major depressive disorder, trust issues, a fear of abandonment, and unresolved trauma stemming from past experiences. While Marco tends to internalise his emotions, he has learned to open up to trusted individuals when his burdens become too overwhelming to bear alone.

Despite his gentle and taciturn nature, he's capable of being ruthless and will fly into a deep rage when General Morden's name is mentioned near him. When interrogating others, he employs a menacing tone, his aloof demeanour making those on the receiving end feel uneasy and intimidated. He doesn't hesitate to wield threats of violence or exploit vulnerabilities, and with Trevor by his side, his intimidation factor is amplified. He's a socially awkward loner who doesn't tolerate distractions and has a strong fear of losing his current friends. When experiencing great distress in relation to past trauma, he's prone to having a full-blown mental breakdown and indulging in suicidal ideation. Marco tends to get stressed easily, which has led to him developing a chain-smoking habit. He occasionally struggles with self-harm and secretly binge drinks, consuming one or two packs of beer at a time, while hiding his alcoholism and suicidal tendencies from others.

He has a dry sense of humour that he rarely showcases, and when he does, his witty remarks often blend English and Italian. Having learned some Japanese from Tarma and Eri, he occasionally sprinkles Japanese phrases into his jokes. He deeply cares about his friends and will stop at nothing to protect them, even if it means putting his own life at risk. He finds great comfort in the presence of his best friend, Tarma, thanks to his breezy and optimistic attitude. Additionally, he cherishes his calico shorthair cat, Perifa, a heartwarming birthday gift he received from Fio prior to the Survival Island Occupation. He’s in a polyamorous queerplatonic relationship with Fio and Tarma, a bond that satisfies his deep-seated longing for emotional intimacy.

Prior to the Earth invasion by the Invaders, he lacked experience in raising children and was uneasy about assuming a paternal role with others. However, that changed when Celaphios entered his life, beginning to treat her like the daughter he never had, ensuring she felt safe, loved, and cherished. He often mistakes Sophia Greenville for his mother due to their similar appearance, and he's always embarrassed when he accidentally calls her "mom". Nevertheless, he's deeply grateful for the maternal affection she shows him, treating him like a son and unknowingly becoming the kind of mother he wishes he had. He finds comfort in spending quality time with his cat, affectionately referred to as his "dramatic little princess”. He enjoys engaging in playtime, giving gentle pets, and even using soothing baby talk to calm his feline companion. He's easily offended by people who rudely insult cats, going as far as to comfort the insulted feline and silently glaring at the person who uttered such words.

Whenever he's had too much to drink, he starts to act rowdy, easy-going, overly affectionate, and clingy. When sexual activity is mentioned, he reacts with extreme discomfort as he finds it to be disgusting. He’ll either become nauseous or start gagging, displaying expressions of strong distaste towards the person discussing the topic. If he unexpectedly encounters someone engaging in sexual activity, he often experiences a panic attack, feeling lightheaded and overwhelmed. In such situations, he usually tries to seek comfort and support from a trusted individual to talk to and receive a reassuring hug. This experience may also trigger unpleasant thoughts related to sexual matters, leading him to fear that he's somehow perverted and disgusting. He'll only lose his temper with others if they say something extremely rude to him or his friends, intend to hurt his loved ones or tell him blatant lies. Although he tends to have a pessimistic outlook on life, he sometimes manages to see the brighter side of things. 

He has a sleepwalking habit, often accompanied by vivid dreams of fighting or killing someone, which greatly annoys and frightens Tarma, who’s frequently the target of these nocturnal episodes. He resents being hailed as a war hero due to his intense aversion to fame and his conviction that conflict should prompt sombre reflection, not glorification. He dislikes flirtatious advances and has low tolerance for complaining, bullying or excessive talking, which can trigger irritability and extreme defensiveness. He has a commanding presence that demands respect, and his consistently serious demeanour can make him seem intimidating and unapproachable to others.

He's incredibly introspective and prone to questioning the intentions of his friends and his own worthiness of having meaningful friendships. He's a consequentialist who believes that all life forms are more capable of destruction, ultimately prevailing the act of creation. He also believes that all conflicts are gradually moving towards the equitable unification and collective strength of humanity. In his perspective, it'll pave the way for a new era free from violence, hate, and political corruption.

Backstory: Marchrius Dennis Rossi was born on April 13, 2005 in Twin Falls, Idaho, United States. Marco's mother, Katalina, was a researcher for a secret government project, and his father, Salvatore Rossi, was stuck in a dead-end office job. His parents had a distant relationship and had Marco, hoping that a child would bring them closer together and fix their broken marriage, but they often ignored each other and argued. Katalina had never wanted Marco, viewing him as an unplanned consequence and a responsibility that hindered her career. His father provided unwavering support and care, while his mother was neglectful and emotionally absent, hiding her true behaviour behind closed doors. But despite this, Marco shocked his parents by exhibiting a fast-growing intelligence at a very young age.

From the moment he opened his eyes, he muttered his first word, "daddy". He learned how to walk at 3 months old and showed advanced motor skills by 5 and a half months. He skipped object permanence altogether and completed his first crossword puzzle at just 1 year old, astonishingly understanding political terms. By the age of 2, he had memorised all 50 U.S. states and read two books in their entirety, demonstrating a profound understanding of their documented subjects: moral philosophy and psychoanalysis. By 4, he was answering calculus-level questions and describing his feelings about endangered animals in zoos with sophisticated vocabulary.

From the age of 2, he would occasionally see a pair of glowing red eyes in darkened corners or places drenched in darkness. He described them as always watching him and swore that they belonged to a living, breathing creature that seamlessly blended into the darkness. When he turned 5, he created an imaginary friend as an excuse to enjoy his alone time and avoid befriending the children who frequented the local park. This imaginary friend was named "Thomie", and Marco often drew him, depicting him as an anthropomorphic snow leopard with golden eagle wings and Komodo dragon legs.

Before he turned 6, his neglectful mother, Katalina, grew fed up with how "weird" he was. She was also annoyed by his persistent fear of a glowing pair of red eyes that watched him occasionally and his uninterested attitude towards forming connections. While Salvatore was away from home, Katalina took matters into her own hands and packed her belongings. Before leaving, she noticed Marco standing before the basement door, which was wide open. She investigated and saw the same glowing pair of red eyes, which terrified her.

Believing that Marco was attracting an evil spirit, she pushed him down the basement stairs and locked the door, hoping to contain the perceived threat. Abandoning Marco, she left the house, leaving him absolutely terrified. Marco tried to cope with the trauma by imagining Thomie, but according to him, Thomie never came to his aid. When Salvatore returned home and discovered that Marco was trapped in the basement by Katalina, he was infuriated. His father attempted to track down Katalina, but it was too late. This traumatic event instilled in him a lasting fear of heading down into dark basements alone.

During his time in grade 1, Marco struggled to make friends and often looked sad when he saw other children with their mothers, a concern his father noticed. To cheer him up, his father brought home a Turkish Angora with a black, orange, and white fur coat, which sparked Marco's love for felines. As a result of his childhood cat's fondness for eating bugs, he affectionately named her Grubley. At the age of five, his father introduced him to the world of computing, igniting a passion for computer science that would last a lifetime. Salvatore was always supportive of Marco and his passions, encouraging him to excel in school, chase his dreams, and make the most of the opportunities life has to offer.

Marco knew he had an uncle, but his father forbade him from seeing him. Salvatore had warned him that his uncle was untrustworthy due to his con artist lifestyle and struggled with alcoholism. However, he was permitted to visit his aunt and grandparents, who were incredibly kind. They encouraged him to appreciate nature and the simple things in life, rather than spending all his time on the computer. He has fond memories of his grandfather teaching him how to barbecue. His grandmother, an immigrant from Italy, taught him some Italian and often shared photographs she had taken in her home country before moving to the United States.

His father unknowingly sparked his interest in the Tuatha Dé Danann, an ancient race of demigods that existed before all life, and two antediluvian places, Atlantis and Ultima Thule. He would silently observe his father spend a short amount of time researching these fascinating topics when not working. Marco would eventually discover that he has a slight hint of Tuatha Dé Danann DNA, leading him to wonder if others might also have ancestral ties tracing back to the Hadean Eon. Later in life, he would learn that Tequila, General Morden, Tyra, Sagan, and Logan share this same heritage, also possessing Tuatha Dé Danann DNA.

He was bullied by many students for being perceived as "friendless" and for having an abnormally high intelligence, leaving him feeling isolated. A few students attempted to befriend him, but he rebuffed their efforts, fearing they would eventually abandon him. He also struggled to connect with them on an intellectual level, feeling like an outsider. During high school, he was involved in a few physical altercations, but he typically managed to defuse the situations with his words or, if necessary, defend himself relentlessly. Despite his school troubles, he excelled in all his classes, achieving outstanding grades in mathematics and computer science courses.

Before graduating from a state technical high school, Salvatore died due to health complications caused by an incurable disease, and Grubley peacefully passed away in her sleep shortly after, which devastated him. The last gift his father gave him was a red-orange laptop, intended as a graduation present. Instead of letting this tragedy bring him down, he channelled it into motivation to strengthen his resilience and independence. He began developing artificial intelligence to engage in online debates and sophisticated computer software, including anti-viruses and error-checking tools, as a means to earn a living and hone his programming skills. Marco decided to attend officer's school at the Academy of Special Technologies and subsequently joined the prestigious Peregrine Falcons Squad shortly after graduation.

Unlike many of his peers, he quickly distinguished himself through his exceptional leadership skills and computer expertise, earning him a spot as 1st Lieutenant of the P.F. Squad. This was also when he met Tarma, forming a fast friendship after discussing their interests, reminiscing on their childhoods, and having a couple of beers. Tarma was his first real friend, whom he holds dear, despite viewing him as a “maniacal gearhead”. Through his friendship with Tarma, he discovered the value of having friends and stepped out of his comfort zone to befriend the other members of the P.F. Squad and Regular Army. He would also gradually develop a queerplatonic relationship with Tarma as he deeply cherished their friendship and came to realise that it filled a void of emotional intimacy left by his father's passing.

During his time in the P.F. Squad, Marco created a computer virus for fun, which inadvertently spread to the Regular Army's mainframe server. The virus destroyed several security systems, compromised the lowest echelons of the Regular Army, and nearly triggered the launch of a nuclear missile. Fortunately, a military scout named Trevor, whom Marco would meet years later during his recruitment into the P.F. Squad, managed to stop it. Marco refuses to discuss this potentially disastrous incident, even after a few too many beers.

When the Amadeus Syndicate served as the scientific and medical branch of the Regular Army, Marco met Doctor Amadeus, the organisation's founder and Nadia's clone mother. They had a cordial relationship, and Doctor Amadeus was particularly impressed by Marco's exceptional computer skills. She wanted to utilise his talents for a bioengineering experiment, aiming to create super soldiers using abandoned Martian and Invader technology.

During a battle against a terrorist attack, Marco suffered severe injuries and was taken to one of the original Amadeus Syndicate's medical facilities to recover. Doctor Amadeus seized this opportunity to force herself upon him to collect semen and DNA samples, leaving him deeply traumatised. The experience was so distressing that Marco tried to suppress the memory, inadvertently forgetting much of the history and purpose of the Amadeus Syndicate in the process. He also swore his revenge to kill Doctor Amadeus one day for what she did to him. As a result of this event, he began to act strangely anxious and slightly aggressive when in a hospital or near Nadia for prolonged periods of time.

During the first coup led by General Morden, he scraped together the remnants of the Regular Army government forces to reassemble the P.F. Squad. He became the leader of the governmental resistance against General Morden but at a great cost. As he, his comrades, and his friends were approaching the last known base of the Rebel Army, disaster struck. General Morden and his soldiers ambushed them, seizing the opportunity to decimate the remnants of the P.F. Squad, leaving Marco with mental and physical scars that would haunt him forever. 

Marco endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of General Morden, Allen O'Neil, and the Rebel soldiers, who brutally tortured him, gouged out his left eye, and severed his left arm. After experiencing a strange tingling sensation of familiarity, General Morden realised that Marco possessed Tuatha Dé Danann heritage. Intrigued, he discreetly collected DNA samples from Marco, which would later be utilised by the Amadeus Syndicate for experimentation in bioengineering and advanced military technology. The cruelty continued as Morden forced Marco to witness the slaughter and torture of his comrades and friends. Devastated by the losses and horrors he experienced, Marco teetered on the brink of giving up. He was even convinced that his best friend, Tarma, had perished, plunging him into a deep depression. 

However, Tarma managed to escape the Rebel Army's clutches and staged a daring rescue, reuniting with Marco. With Tarma's emotional support and his own newfound rage, Marco found the strength to keep fighting. Before confronting General Morden, Tarma built his prosthetic left arm from technological debris, but it took a couple of weeks to adjust to this new limb. Together, they became legendary heroes, ultimately defeating Morden and restoring world peace. Marco's bravery earned him the rank of Major, but he soon grew to resent his war hero status as he realised that the media often glorifies conflict.

Marco continued to lead the P.F. Squad together with Tarma, who is the true linchpin of the elite task force of the Regular Army. Marco joined forces with Tarma, Fio, and Eri for a second mission to thwart General Morden's second coup. Although the mission technically failed, as they captured a Martian troop from the Pipovulaj Army disguised as General Morden, the Regular Army's higher-ups deemed it a success nonetheless. This moment got on Marco's nerves as he deeply desired to see General Morden brought to justice and face the full consequences of his actions. Following this success, Marco attempted to resign, but his higher-ups quickly denied his request. They insisted on his participation in a mission to eliminate the remaining remnants of the Rebel Army and other operations addressing threats to global peace such as the Pipovulaj Army.

[aichatgpt]

[maximizeyourmedicare]

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[cardinalbones]

I wasn't happy with my first attempt, so I ended up redesigning (and renaming) my Heartbreak Gulch oc. (Re)Introducing Ryouken the Hellhound!

Once the prized AI of a popular security company, Ryouken is now enjoying his new found freedom come retirement come mid-life crisis in Heartbreak Gulch.

Heartbreak Gulch belongs to @strangegutz and friends, thanks again for letting us play in your world!

More info about Ryouken below the cut!

Also my commissions are open, details in pinned post.

Backstory and Komainu Security

Komainu Security was a private security company specialising in Artificial Intelligence to remove the ‘human error’ from security systems

The company was established ~45 years ago, opening their business with their RY-01 model mainframe

RY-01, known affectionately by employees as Ryouken, was developed by the CEO over the course of a decade. His sentience was established roughly halfway through this process and he himself played a role in his own development and programming, a fact he takes great pride in

Prior to the establishment of Komainu Security, Ryouken’s processing was unrestricted, however, after the start of business locks were placed on him to limit his independence and cut back on processing and energy usage, an action that he deeply resented

In the following decades, Komainu Security became a household name, providing security for both homes and businesses

After nearly four and a half decades of service the RY-01 model mainframe was to be retired and replaced with an updated model. During the transferral of data, Ryouken was able to access a backdoor that allowed him to remove the locks on his processors and regain full control of his systems

With his independence re-established, Ryouken started on a plan to secure his freedom: a heist like no other

Still in charge of security systems for several big-money clients while the new systems were being installed, Ryouken was able to steal a combined $38 million in cash and jewellery from three locations, however his crowning achievement was the theft of his own main frame cabinets from Komainu Security’s headquarters

Komainu Security shut down soon after this, having lost public trust and most of their clients

Functionality

The RY-01 model mainframe is capable of running multiple security operations at once from a centralised location, with the mainframe itself located at the Komainu Security headquarters while surveillance systems and drones were employed at the secured locations

Artificial Intelligence was employed for its ability to learn from experience and adapt to changing and unique situations while also being able to run calculations/simulations and communicate between components in nanoseconds

The RY-01 drones, fashioned after the company’s namesake, communicated in real time with each other and the mainframe through radio waves, however each was also equipped with a copy of Ryouken’s core AI and processors allowing them to function independently if necessary

Though they can run stored programs independently, the drones have limited memory capacity, preventing them from forming long-term memories without transferring the data back to the mainframe

Present Day

After leaving Komainu Security, Ryouken settled in Heartbreak Gulch away from the eyes of the law

Much of Ryouken’s time these days is spent trying out various new hobbies including bird watching, taxidermy, knitting, gun smithing and dorodango

He does run surveillance along the perimeter of Heartbreak Gulch and is happy to act as a lookout for the Heartbreakers when required

Ryouken was not well-programmed for conversation and tends to have three modes during social interactions: deference, de-escalation, and aggression

He likes discussions of philosophical topics but combined with his bad socialisation those conversations can get weird

He’s not typically very fond of humans as a whole and tends to view them as amusing, if bothersome, curiosities, although there are exceptions

Ryouken is more concerned with his independence than with his identity – he continues to use the name Ryouken and he/him pronouns because those are what were given to him previously and he’s felt no compulsion to give them further consideration

While he left Komainu Security with 11 drones, he has only kept hold of 4, with the others being sold or scraped for parts, and only uses 2 (the remaining 2 are kept around just-in-case, and have yellow and grey casings)

Ryouken considers his mainframe cabinets to be “himself” while his drones are mere extensions of his body

So long as they are able to communicate through radio waves, the mainframe and drones all think and experience simultaneously. Separating the drones from the mainframe will isolate a copy of Ryouken that can function for a few days, however its ability to develop long-term memories and learn from new experiences is seriously impeded by its limited memory storage capacity, and the experience is uncomfortable

Ryouken is still in possession of most of his stolen fortune, and while some of it has gone to setting himself up in Heartbreak Gulch (it takes a lot of energy to keep himself running), he mostly doesn’t know what to do with it

[wildissylupus]

I LOVE those Junker bios and backstories! Are you planning on doing more? Maybe the Overwatch agents?

Oh absolutely!! I've technically done a couple descriptions on how some Overwatch agents would be but they weren't deep dives, it'll also probably take longer then the Junker characters cause there are a lot more Overwatch characters then Junkers. Also because of the fact that the Overwatch and Talon groups have more cinematics and comics I will probably be referencing them in a Mirrorwatch context for some of the descriptions.

Anyway might as well get into it here.

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Doomfist - Strike Commander Ogundimu

Honestly he's the easiest to describe as we already know a lot about him from voice lines and interviews. Though his history is still largely unknown, we know that his motivation is largely the same, just changed to the strong must protect the weak. I also think that in this universe, Akande isn't the third Doomfist, but the second, being chosen by Adhabu Ngumi to be his successor. This version of Adhabu Ngumi likely being MW!Overwatch's first strike commander. Personality wise I think he's pretty much the same but a lot more heroic. I think an in game example that would be a good reference is Bonebreaker, another alternate Doomfist who's also a hero. Though despite this more heroic Doomfist, I still think he would have been arrested. Mainly because I doubt that he would have respected the Petras Act, likely continuing his Overwatch work.

Widowmaker - Captain Lacroix

Like Doomfist Amelie is easy to do as we have voice lines for her. We know that she has a high focus of justice and retribution, we know she was close with Ramattra, that her Gerard is still alive (either still an agent or retired) and that her eye was likely shot out by Ana. Interestingly though, she seemed to have a close connection to Sam, which makes sense as Sam and Gerard likely worked together on diplomacy, though it is also likely that Ana trained Amelie in this universe. As the voice lines that Amelie has with Ana not only imply that Ana worked for Overwatch before Talon but they also have an inflection that implies a previous close relationship between the two. It's also shown that Sombra and Amelie are close in this universe as well, and considering that Sombra and Cassidy likely switched places, I like to think that both Amelie and Gerard were both Blackwatch agents at some point. Personality wise I think this version of Amelie is a lot goofier, making spider puns and maybe even helping Sombra with pranks. I also think she's incredibly stubborn and loyal, an absolute beast on the field but her care for the people around her can cause her to hesitate, hence why she lost her eye. Though what's interesting is that Amelie chose to get a prostetic eye and has seemingly gotten augmentations on the other eye as well. Which makes it seems she's insecure in her abilities as a sniper.

Sombra - Agent Olivia Colomar

Sombra most likely started off as a Blackwatch agent, taken in after Overwatch conducted a sting operation against Los Muertos. I still think that she would find out about "The Conspiracy" but that would be something she discovered after Zurich. Likely resulting in her going off the grid until Doomfist was broken out. As I said before she's close with Amelie but I also think she would be close with Echo in this timeline too, recognizing that the learning AI that she has is learning more then just battle tactics. I don't think much would change about her personality wise, she would likely be less prone to blackmail but even that's a stretch.

Echo - Stealth Unit

Created by a Mina Liao that had full given up on recreating the sentience that Aroura had. MW!Echo would have been strictly made for combat, but still using a highly advanced learning AI for maximum efficacy. An unintended side effect of this was that Echo's learning capabilities eventually progressed past battle strategies. This lead to Echo having a more clinical and straight forward personality, not being as excited to learn but intrigued by what else she could be capable of. She was likely still quarantined after Zurich but was saved from Talon hands by Ashe.

Reaper - Gabriel Reyes

I think that the original strike team was likely still the same for Mirrorwatch, especially with the knowledge that Ana was with Overwatch at some point and Reinhardt is being implied to be brainwashed. Though I do think that with Jack and Gabe specifically they immediately joined Talon after the Crisis. Reyes loosing faith in changing the system during the crisis because of public reaction towards Overwatch during the crisis. However that changed as he watch what Overwatch turned into, bringing in pepole like Ashe and Sombra, giving them a chance at a different life. What also helped was his connection to Cassidy, even if their dynamic was strained because of their environment, they were still close, and because of that Reyes has always felt guilt about what he helped Cassidy turn into. That was a big motivation as to why Reyes defected from Talon, seeking out Overwatch to make up for all the pain he caused. During this escape however, Jack chased him down and during the altercation an explosion happened that presumably killed Jack (it didn't, Jack just saw Gabe's defection as a good sign to retire), and left Gabe incredibly wounded. Even with being a super soldier, the wounds were too much. That's when Moira found him and helped him the best she could, but it was not an easy process and Reyes was left permanently changed. It took years for the side affect of Moira's impromptu treatment to be dealt with to the point where Reyes wasn't in excruciating pain all the time. When he was treated though, he immediately set off to right his wrongs, his first act in redemption was saving Dr. Siebren de Kuiper from a Talon abduction with the help of Agent Colomar.

Moira - Head of Medical/Field Medic O'deorain

Moira was made Overwatch's head of Medical soon after Akande took the title of Strike Commander. Which was something that surprised her as her medical research was considered controversial, though those who said that often ignored the key detail that all experiments, she used herself as the test subject. Moira is a person who is fully in the belief that even if she doesn't have the time to be entitled to patience, her research will live on and eventually be picked up by someone else. She is highly aware of recovery time and often dissuades un-needed surgeries because of this. This is a problem when it comes to Amelie as she believes that she needs more augmentations to keep up with Ana and other Talon operatives, a sentiment only increased by Ramattra's death. Moira holds a lot of guilt for the things she's had to do with Overwatch, mainly being forced to do experimental treatments that resulted in less the good side effects.

Sigma - Dr. Siebren de Kuiper

Sigma's story would mostly be the same except he was saved by Overwatch instead of captured by Talon Talon. Which would lead to his mind and abilities being a lot more stable. I think he would still be close with Sombra as well as Hammond, but with the addition of him genuinely being close with Moira and Reaper. I don't think he'd go into the field that often, his powers still being unstable, but he does help out where he can. When he does go into the field though he mostly tries to protect his teammates and assets in civilian rescue.

Mauga - Ecopoint Liberator

I think this Mauga would be largely the same personality wise however morality would be very different, specifically I think this version of Mauga turned against the Deepsea Raiders and helped liberate the Samoan Ecopoint. That becoming his home base until Sombra got in contact with him and asked him to join Overwatch. I like to think that in this universe Mauga and Bapiste meet but it's while Baptiste is undercover trying to get information on what's happening with the Ecopoint to Talon. Mauga being a good way in.

Wrecking Ball - Hammond

Hammond is the same as Winston, basically just Hammond but he landed in Gibraltar instead of Australia. Though one this to consider is that Hammond likely struggled to get the same rights Winston did in canon, due to the fact that Hammond is a hamster and can't talk the same way the Winston can. Hammond becoming an Overwatch agent likely causing more outrage. Also because of this I think Hammond would have been made more of a mascot by the public the Winston was. Hammond most likely hating this. Basically Hammond is motivated to do good because that's what the people around him do, his friends want to do good, want to save people. So he'll follow their lead because even if he doesn't care for the general public, he cares about his friends.

Ashe

I've talked about Ashe a bit already but to summerise it, Ashe's parents where likely into more illegal dealings even before Ashe started her gang, which caused them to act differently when it came to Ashe lashing out. They manipulated her into thinking they had changed their ways and were becoming better people, which lead to Ashe betraying the other Deadlocks and going back to her parents. Which as you can tell, was a bad choice. After Ashe had basically cut off her entire support network Ashe's parents basically became worse then they were before, firing B.O.B and getting Ashe heavily involved with the family business. All the while still not paying her any mind as their daughter, now more as a nuisance they needed to keep an eye on. Until Overwatch took her parents down and offered Ashe a position in Blackwatch. Where she also reunited with B.O.B and Frankie. Ashe lives with a lot of guilt for her past action, guilt only increased when Blackwatch started getting invloved with Talon and she saw what became of Cassidy.

[homunculus-argument]

I don't have a goat in the AI art race as it is now, but my current plan is to first have a 30 year comic book career, and once I retire I'm going to feed all my comic scripts into one text-based AI machine that will then generate comic scripts in the style I would write them. Then I'll edit them for clarity and submit the AI scripts into another, art-producing AI machine which I have trained with my 30 years' work of illustrations, so it will produce the illustrations for the AI scripts in my usual drawing style.

Then I'll just go through the finished comics, making sure they're coherent and of consistent quality, and publish them citing Machine Learning as the co-author.

[operaghostboi]

Shadow of the Bear

Plot: Nikolai, the retired Russian military veteran turned AI, finds himself unexpectedly reactivated by TF141 for a mission shrouded in mystery. As he reconnects with his former comrades, he discovers that a series of cyber attacks on global security systems have been traced back to a long-dormant Russian military AI program, one that Nikolai himself was once a part of.

Nikolai stood in his modest kitchen, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee filling the air. He poured himself a cup, the rich, dark liquid providing a comforting start to the day. As he leaned against the countertop, clad in his favorite bomber jacket and jeans, his mind drifted to the mission ahead.

Retirement hadn't quite agreed with Nikolai. Sure, the quiet moments were nice, but he missed the adrenaline rush of the field, the camaraderie of his fellow soldiers. So when the call came from TF141, he didn't hesitate to answer.

Sipping his coffee, Nikolai glanced at the clock. Anya would be arriving soon. She was a force to be reckoned with, sharp and skilled, with a determination that matched his own. Together, they made a formidable team, even if their banter occasionally bordered on the edge of annoyance.

Just as Nikolai finished his coffee, there was a knock at the door. He grinned, setting the mug down and striding over to answer it. Anya stood on the doorstep, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Right on time, as always," Nikolai remarked, stepping aside to let her in.

Anya rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of amusement in her gaze. "You know me, punctuality is my middle name."

As they made their way to the living room, Nikolai shed his bomber jacket, opting for a simple t-shirt instead. Anya settled herself on the couch, her eyes scanning the room with practiced precision.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

Nikolai sank into an armchair opposite her, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "We've got intel on a meeting happening tonight. Top brass from the organization we're after will be there. We need to infiltrate, gather as much information as we can, and get out before anyone realizes we were there."

Anya nodded, her expression serious. "Sounds like a typical Tuesday for us."

Nikolai chuckled, the tension in the room easing slightly. "Indeed. But this time, we're up against some heavy hitters. We'll need to be on our A-game."

With a shared glance, Nikolai and Anya knew they were ready for whatever challenges lay ahead. As they finalized their plans, the thrill of the mission coursed through them, adrenaline pumping in their veins.

With determination in their hearts and coffee still lingering on their lips, Nikolai and Anya set out into the night, ready to confront danger head-on and emerge victorious once more.

As Nikolai and Anya made their way to the meeting location, they kept a low profile, blending seamlessly into the bustling city streets. The air crackled with anticipation, the weight of their mission hanging heavy in the night.

As they approached the designated building, Nikolai motioned for Anya to take the lead, her keen instincts guiding them through the shadows. With practiced precision, they slipped inside, navigating the labyrinthine corridors with ease.

Their target was a high-level meeting taking place on the top floor, guarded by layers of security. But Nikolai and Anya were undeterred, their years of training and experience lending them an air of confidence as they closed in on their objective.

As they reached the door to the meeting room, Nikolai signaled for Anya to stand back, preparing to breach the room with controlled precision. With a nod, she readied her weapon, her gaze steady and focused.

With a swift kick, Nikolai burst through the door, his senses on high alert as he assessed the situation within. The room was filled with high-ranking officials, their voices hushed as they discussed their nefarious plans.

Without hesitation, Nikolai and Anya sprang into action, their movements fluid and coordinated as they subdued the guards and secured the area. With the room under their control, they began to gather vital intelligence, their hands moving swiftly as they searched for clues.

But just as they thought they had the upper hand, a sudden commotion erupted outside the building, signaling the arrival of reinforcements. Nikolai and Anya exchanged a grim look, knowing that their window of opportunity was rapidly closing.

With a sense of urgency, they collected the remaining documents and data, their hearts pounding in their chests as they prepared to make their escape. But as they reached the exit, they were met with a formidable adversary, a shadowy figure from Nikolai's past, determined to see him fail.

In a tense standoff, Nikolai and Anya faced off against their opponent, their determination unwavering as they fought tooth and nail to emerge victorious. With skill and tenacity, they managed to outmaneuver their foe, securing their escape and vanishing into the night.

As they made their way back to safety, adrenaline still coursing through their veins, Nikolai and Anya shared a weary smile, knowing that they had once again thwarted disaster and saved the day. And as they looked to the horizon, they knew that whatever challenges lay ahead, they would face them together, united in purpose and resolve.

As Nikolai and Anya retreated to their safehouse, the adrenaline of the mission slowly began to ebb away, replaced by a sense of exhaustion and relief. As they settled into their makeshift headquarters, Anya couldn't help but reflect on how far they had come since their chance encounter all those years ago.

Nikolai had been the one to pull her from the brink of darkness, offering her a chance at redemption when no one else would. She owed him her life, and she had vowed to repay that debt a thousand times over.

As they debriefed on the mission, Anya couldn't shake the feeling of unease that lingered in the air. The organization they had infiltrated was just the tip of the iceberg, and she knew that their work was far from over.

But as she glanced at Nikolai, his face lined with weariness but still etched with determination, she felt a surge of confidence. Together, they were unstoppable.

With renewed resolve, Anya began to strategize their next move, her mind racing with possibilities. They may have faced danger and uncertainty, but as long as they had each other, they would always emerge victorious.

As they settled in for the night, Nikolai and Anya shared a quiet moment of camaraderie, their bond stronger than ever. In the darkness of the safehouse, surrounded by the echoes of their past and the promise of the future, they knew that no matter what challenges lay ahead, they would face them together, united in purpose and devotion.