#I don't actually think it's exclusively lefty though

[elainemorisi]

what's the theory for the internet? lefty? kneejerk reaction to try to excuse literally any bad behavior by anyone in any context. like it's really annoying on its own merits and if I may Take, antisocial in and of itself

(context: local facebook group post annoyed-ly calling out, sans names or identifying information, some people for dine-and-dashing from "one of the nicer restaurants in town". immediate comment: are you sure they weren't in need of a meal. like. what compels one to make that excuse? in remote theory I mean maybe but like probably not also that's still bad behavior but like why is this even raised to begin with what compels that?? maybe they got an emergency phone call too but like man I doubt it!)

[askthefivefallen]

"I Gotta Ask"

A: "Alright, I'm gonna ask the obvious question."

R: "Okay?"

A: "Let's say either Tits gets a clue or the Almighty comes down and forces Lefty to make the first move."

R: "I'm following so far."

A: "What are you gonna do?"

R: "Be... happy for them? I don't understand the question."

A: "Listen, Righty, for once I'm not trying to be a dick. You've never had a different wingmate. If those two start dating, that means you and Lefty won't be hanging out as much anymore. Some of her downtime, she's gonna spend with Tits. So... how are you gonna cope with that?"

R: "Well... if we're being entirely honest, that's part of why I was so on board with the pets idea. Taking care of those rats has... well, it gives me something to focus on that... doesn't have to do with anybody else. And, with so many of them, they're a literal handful!"

A: "Alright, what else?"

R: *shrug* "I mean, between the hound parties and offsetting our shifts, I've been slowly weening myself off the... uh... shit, what did Vaggie call it- co-dependent relationship, yeah, that. Lefty's still my best friend but I'm looking forward to her getting a new best friend, too. It's not mutually exclusive."

A: "Happy to hear that."

R: "What about you?"

A: "Me?"

R: "Yeah. Like, if Lefty and Tits get together, and Junior ends up dating that incubus he's been talking to... that leaves the two of us as the only single ones left down here, ya know?"

A: *scowls* "If you're making a pass at me-"

R: "I would actually rather go to the ninth circle."

A: "Okay good." *shrug* "Not something that bothers me."

R: "No one's caught your eye?"

A: "Not down here. Been thinking about becoming a slut, though. Like, bang everyone I meet. For the fun of it."

R: "Not down here? Someone up-"

A: "It was never gonna work. I'm still carrying a torch but that ship sailed. I ain't goin' back up there."

R: "Yeah... I get that... still... sorry you didn't get a chance."

A: "It's whatever. I don't care."

R: "Right... wanna feed your snake?"

A: "Oh, I got another one. Did you know that snakes have these things called morphs? Some species develop distinct patterning when kept in captivity; some of them look fuckin' sick. I'm thinkin' about breeding snakes, since all the pet stores in the Pride ring are just terrible for reptiles. You gotta go to Wrath to get anythin' halfway decent."

R: "Sounds like it could be a fun project. Tell me more."

[blood-and-pizza]

I wanna talk about how Rockstar Freddy is depicted in my Fazbear Estate AU for a second.

Admittedly, when I was trying to come up with ideas for Rockstar Freddy, it was a bit tough. How do you come up with a personality for an animatronic whose defining trait is collecting coins from you? Well, I gave it a lot of thought...

Rockstar Freddy is obssessed with coins even in this AU, but not because he's greedy or money-hungry. They're simply his special interest; he collects them for fun rather than profit. And considering he has a coin slot built into him - right on his tummy - he's basically a walking piggy bank. The contents of his stomach sometimes jingle and rattle for this reason.

Rockstar Freddy is also the only Freddy Fazbear model who refers to himself in the third person. This is a harmless speech quirk he has, though people who don't know him well will often mistake this quirk to be a sign of him being egotistical. He's actually a sweetheart who means well.

One thing that frequently gets Rockstar Freddy misunderstood by others is that when he likes somebody, he typically starts hounding them for coin payments as an excuse to interact with them. He'll show up at random and ask them to "pay a toll" or "pay a fee" before he allows them to do anything. Wanna open the estate's refrigerator? You have to pay him first. Need to use the bathroom? He's there, waiting for a coin. Want him to go away and leave you alone? Pay up. Any coins he gets from a person he likes, he'll treasure them forever. He's not trying to be antagonistic or annoying; he just really likes coins! And a coin from a friend or loved one is even better!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: Rockstar Freddy's favorite friend is Lefty. While Rockstar Freddy was originally made as a family-friendly entertainment animatronic, Lefty was a FNAF original, made specially for the horror games before being made into an actual animatronic in order to promote Pizzeria Simulator. In this AU, Lefty is a trans female. She has two voice boxes, one that makes her sound like how she did in Ultimate Custom Night, and another that sounds distinctly male. She uses her female voice box to speak, and her male voice box exclusively to sing.

I'd like to think Lefty and Rockstar Freddy become a couple at some point. Rockstar Freddy is fascinated by Lefty, and loves hearing her sing no matter what voice she's using. He particularly loves doing duets with her. Lefty, on her part, thinks Rockstar Freddy is very kind to her, especially for her being a scary horror animatronic and not an actual part of the Rockstar crew.

[professorspork]

Hot take, perhaps, but if/when Penny 3.0 happens I don't think she should have Floating Array, etherial or otherwise. It's just too bound up with her self-image as a Weapon instead of a Person. If Penny gets a sword, it needs to be a sword she can put down.

This is-- a fascinating take! I’m not sure I agree with it, but I think there’s some meaty ideas here worth unpacking. And I do think we agree on the fundamental premise (i.e. Penny’s autonomy needs to be foregrounded above all).

You assert that Penny’s current problem is that she sees herself as a Weapon and not a Person, and I don’t think that’s exactly the case. 

One of the things I admire most about Penny is is that when people try and tell her who (or, insultingly, what) she is, she quietly but assertively refutes them. Though early on her conviction in her own personhood was somewhat shaky, when her friends encouraged her she took it to heart. After Ruby “I Love You And Your Beautiful Soul” Rose told her that she was real and Winter “Everyone’s Feelings Are Valid Except For Mine” Schnee told her that her opinions mattered, she got-- really quite bullish about this. To illustrate:

Random citizen: It's Ironwood's robot! Robyn: [suspicious] Penny. Penny: I-- I didn't! [7.06, A Night Off]

Vine: I thought you were supposed to protect the people, not hurt them. Penny: I would never hurt anyone. Elm: Well Winter’s in critical condition, because of you. Harriet: And you repaid her by stealing the power that should have been hers. Penny: But taking the Maiden power was the only way to stop-- [8.03, Strings]

Cinder: You’re just a tool to be used! Penny: You do not know what you are talking about. ... Cinder: I don’t serve anyone. And you wouldn’t either, if you weren't built that way. Penny: That is not… I choose to fight for people who care about me. [8.05, Amity]

Which isn’t to say Penny isn’t prone to self-doubt, because she absolutely is, or that Penny doesn’t have a self-sacrifice streak a mile wide, because she absolutely does. But Penny wouldn’t have that reflexive, Janet-saying-“Not-a-girl”-style reaction to people telling her she’s nothing but a weapon unless she genuinely thought they were wrong. She’s not defensive, in these moments, even though she’s defending herself. She’s certain.

Maybe this is me splitting hairs with your argument, but I don’t think Penny’s issue is that she sees herself as a weapon. It’s that she sees herself as a hero. Not just a soldier, but THE soldier. The Protector of Mantle. She’s not Winter; she’s not most comfortable when she’s got orders she can hide behind so she can reassure herself she’s doing the right thing because someone else already did that math. She’s-- she’s Spider-Man. She feels a tremendous responsibility to save everyone she can, because that’s what you do. And yes that’s also, literally, what she was built for, so I can see where the argument is coming from, but I think it matters that the argument’s being made about someone from Remnant.

And on Remnant, your weapon is an extension of who you are.

We’ve never, as far as I can remember, seen anyone straight up switch their weapon. Ironwood made the nuke attachment for his pistols, but it’s still Due Process underneath. Maria only carries one of her two canes, now, but she didn’t make any design changes. Same with Yang and (lefty) Ember Celica. Jaune gave Crocea Mors substantial upgrades, but it’s fundamentally the same weapon; Blake chose to solder Gambol Shroud back together rather than replace it... and if anyone had an argument that using the same weapon might be too traumatic, it would be her. I mean, hell, the Messrs Oz have been using the same staff for millennia.

Weapons aren’t something you turn your back on. I don’t think it’s something that would occur to people. It would be like-- like turning off your Aura. That’s you. 

Unless, of course, you’re Cinder.

Cinder gave up on Midnight after the Beacon arc, and we’ve never seen it since. She relies exclusively on Maiden weapons instead-- some of which she molds into forms quite similar to her old swords or bow, but still. She tossed it aside. This follows the logic of the show: Cinder discarded the weapons, and with them the person she used to be, when she found it all to be lacking. Instead, she embraces what she sees as a higher form of power.

I don’t think Penny would think of Floating Array that way; as a sign of her failure. Nor do I think she’d see it as the prophesy/burden your take implies.

Granted, Watts used a sword from Floating Array in order to get access to her code and install the virus; it ended up being the vector for a huge breach of autonomy and violation of consent. But so was Tyrian using Harbinger to murder Clover, and Qrow’s still using it.

And granted, Penny didn’t choose Floating Array in the same way most people chose or designed their own weapons. She was born with it; activated combat-ready. But then, that’s not so different from Jaune inheriting Crocea Mors, is it? It might not be what either of them would have selected or been most suited for if they’d had the chance to say for themselves at the start, but... well, we’re far from the start, now. And Penny does choose Floating Array, when it matters. When she conjures weapons in her new, self-created body, she instinctively reaches for what she knows, what’s familiar. Her father’s providence. So for me, the moment you’re alluding to... it’s already happened. The whole point of leveraging Ambrosius’ limitations in the way they did is that Penny is separated from the parts of her that can be weaponized-- she watches her synthetic body eat itself, consumed by its own self-destructive urges. It doesn’t get much more metaphor-made-literal than that!

What remains, then, is Penny. And Penny uses Floating Array.

If Penny comes back and doesn’t resume the Winter Maidenhood (which I think is... low on the list of options, given Winter’s desperation and the likelihood that Maiden transference shenanigans are going to be a part of the vehicle that allows Penny to return in the first place), then she won’t have a choice. Either because that will mean she’s back in a 3.0 robot body (in which case it’s the same lack of choice she always had; Pietro wouldn’t give her an unfamiliar weapon after all that) or because she’s a Regular Normal Flesh Gal now and unless her Semblance is telekinesis (which it may be!!! we don’t know!!!) a weapon like Floating Array just isn’t on the table. But all of that, as I’ve already laid out, has to contend with so many unknown factors. How she comes back, and in what form, and at which time.

If Penny does end up designing a wholly new weapon, to me that would signal total transformation, given the rules and themes of the world. And that... well, it depends on the execution, I suppose, but I think I’d find that a little alarming. That she’d choose to have so little of her old self in her new form. But on the other hand, maybe I’m dead wrong there! That could also be read as yet another gorgeous act of creation by the Maiden best suited to it; it could be Penny choosing to yes-and herself into doubling down on her identity. She could be SO MUCH of a person that she, and she alone, gets to make a new weapon for her new self. I’m not against any of that! 

But even if that’s the case, I still think we’d see the hard light version of Floating Array again, especially if we have a Maidenbowl Redux. Even if I were to concede to your point that it’s too bound up in her self-image issues, that doesn’t imply to me that she’d have to move beyond it. If she’s to contend with herself, if she’s to decide she’s a person and not a weapon as you lay out, she’s going to put all of herself in the effort. As the speech goes, it’s a part of her. Even if it’s just a part, that’s still... a part. And this show has never been about severing yourself from your broken bits; it’s been about embracing them tenderly and letting them actually heal.

...also, Floating Array is *checks notes* cool.